I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: General Discussion => Topic started by: LifeOnHold on September 13, 2005, 07:45:39 PM
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About every five years, I get a 10-page booklet from Social Security that has to be filled out as to why I "still" need dialysis. This thing asks for how much I spend on food, clothes and rent, plus all the medical stuff.
I discovered that the clearer you are in filling this thing out, the more likely you are to be hassled by Social Security. So now, I fill it out like I'm a retard-- I cross things out, use a smudgy pen, draw arrows all over the place, and write in the margins in large, scrawling letters as if I'm in the middle of a really big seizure. Since I've started doing that, I have been left alone. I was getting all kinds of snippy calls from Social Security reps who wanted documentation up the wazoo as to why someone as young as me was on dialysis-- yeah, lady, I deliberately went into kidney failure so I could get a disability check that won't even pay a third of my rent and makes me choose between food and heat! Oooh, that's the life for me-- freezing my a** off in front of my 19-inch no-cable TV with a nice big steamin' bowl of ramen noodles, which I've been eating every day for the past two weeks because I only have 25 dollars a week for groceries! Yep, I admit it! I just go to dialysis for the hell of it! Needles really turn me on! You're one shrewd Social Security employee, ma'am! Homeland Security could use a gal like you! >:D
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About every five years, I get a 10-page booklet from Social Security that has to be filled out as to why I "still" need dialysis. This thing asks for how much I spend on food, clothes and rent, plus all the medical stuff.
I discovered that the clearer you are in filling this thing out, the more likely you are to be hassled by Social Security. So now, I fill it out like I'm a retard-- I cross things out, use a smudgy pen, draw arrows all over the place, and write in the margins in large, scrawling letters as if I'm in the middle of a really big seizure. Since I've started doing that, I have been left alone. I was getting all kinds of snippy calls from Social Security reps who wanted documentation up the wazoo as to why someone as young as me was on dialysis-- yeah, lady, I deliberately went into kidney failure so I could get a disability check that won't even pay a third of my rent and makes me choose between food and heat! Oooh, that's the life for me-- freezing my a** off in front of my 19-inch no-cable TV with a nice big steamin' bowl of ramen noodles, which I've been eating every day for the past two weeks because I only have 25 dollars a week for groceries! Yep, I admit it! I just go to dialysis for the hell of it! Needles really turn me on! You're one shrewd Social Security employee, ma'am! Homeland Security could use a gal like you! >:D
That's strange I get a thing I have to fill out but it's only for the money I get for my son. I get it yearly. But I have never gotten a call or have to fill out anything for the money I get. I have collected money from Social Security for over 11+ years.
But you get a 9/10 for the rant. ;)
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Its such crap that sometimes the frustrating part of this fubar of a how is dealing with the gov't and insurance devils. They the biggest f***ing crackheads I've ever run across! >:D
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I posted this somewhere else, but here it is again because this is more appropriate.
Medicare - A federal health insurance program for people who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, age 65 or disabled, or have kidney failure.
That is the true definition. That is why I/we qualify for Medicare.
I went to sign up for Medicare yesterday. But, first I went to the dentist... perfect! Half my face was numb. No problem qualifying. Bbbhi I'mbbbll Herebbaa to thine up forrr Meddddatare.
I think I'll schedule a root canal before I go sign up for disability!
Darla~
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I know exactly what you guys mean. When I went to the SS office to sign up for Medicar, I got the dirtiest look from the person behind the desk. Then she rudely asked "AND WHY DO YOU NEED MEDICARE?" I think she wanted to ask "why the hell do you need medicare?"
So I told her I was a renal failure patient on dialysis, she then changed her tone a tad.
I always here how government jobs are great. So why the hell are their employees so GOD damn rude????????????? >:D If it's such a great job why do they all seem so unhappy????????
I'll never understand that. ??? ??? ???
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I am a Federal Employee (don't worry.... no offense). ;D The reason we are all crabby is because we deal with so many people trying to make a fast buck and take advantage of programs where they don't qualify. Example: There was a class action suit against USDA for some people who could prove they were discriminated against. One form said "Because USDA would not give me a loan, I could not buy a combine to plant my seeds". If you know anything about agriculture, you know a combine is used to harvest grain..... not plant it. I could provide tons of examples. Anyway, just had to defend Federal Workers. The ones I don't understand are the "Federal" Post Office Workers. ::) ::) Why are they so mean!
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Darla,
Sorry I didn't mean to offend all federal employees. but, all the ones I've met, wether at social security office, post office, city hall, hall of records, DVM they have all being terrible. They made it seem like they were doing me a favor by waiting on me. In fact, I help pay their salary.
but, I do understand your point, there are plenty of people out there trying to pull a fast one to make a buck.
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I passed the Post Office test (I got a 94, my father also took it but only got a 75), and went for training on the electronic sorting machine. MAN, I have never seen a bigger collection of rude people, from the nurse on up! The nurse looked at the group of us having our new employee physical and disdainfully sniffed, "Well, they must be really hard up for sorters if they're calling people with scores as low as YOURS!"
Then, down at the digital timeclock, I couldn't figure out how to punch my timecard and asked someone walking by how to do it, and got a snippy "Well, you'd better figure it out if you're gonna work here!"
Back at the training class, every time I started to get more than ten letters in the correct chute, the instructor turned the speed up on my machine until I couldn't get any letters in the right place. After three days of this crap, I said screw it and went back to my factory job... I can see why post office people have such short fuses, their work environment is enough to make anyone snap!
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Life on hold,
I'm going to forward your post to a co-worker/ friend of mine who wants to work for the post office, he can then get an idea of what kind of hell he's getting himself into. (our job is hell at times but, I don't know if I can even compare it to that of a postal worker. LOL
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Believe it or not, I took as much documentation as I could find including a home dialysis chart to ss office and when I arrived I was sitting down with every illegal alien in the county. When it came my turn to go talk to intake I just handed them the chart and told them "have been on dialysis for over three years and have been sick for over twenty years and they looked up in their system to see if my employer has been paying into the fica and POOF* people were staring at me over cubicles and a superviser looked at me and told me to find my worst anemic day in my chart and that was that. after going to the nephrologist and being the only english speaking person beside the nurse (and I am not just referring to hispanics) I can almost see the problem. If you are sick stay in your own country. Other countries do not take medicare. Trust me I had to take a suitcase full of money when I went to Europe to dialyze. Why do we take their people and put them on Medicaid?
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Did you happen to see in the news where a Transplant Center in Los Angeles is being shut down for giving a Saudi Nationalist priority over another perons on the list. Saudi's pay 20 or 30 percent more then we do. This was for a liver (They don't get medicare) and the cost was $339 thousand. Who says organs aren't bought and sold...... by the Hospitals. They said this "rarely" happens. Yeah, in my opinion.... they just got caught. :-\
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Did you happen to see in the news where a Transplant Center in Los Angeles is being shut down for giving a Saudi Nationalist priority over another perons on the list. Saudi's pay 20 or 30 percent more then we do. This was for a liver (They don't get medicare) and the cost was $339 thousand. Who says organs aren't bought and sold...... by the Hospitals. They said this "rarely" happens. Yeah, in my opinion.... they just got caught. :-\
Darla, Darla, Darla, you should have made this a new post. ;) you still can if you want! :P
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This is one of the reasons why I chose to go to the VA. I was a federal employee and with OPM & Social Security screwing around with the rules of disability, it was more advantagous for me to accept my "OPM RETIREMENT" rather than file for SS. For every dollar SS would give me, OPM would deduct from my retirement pay. I decided to dialize at the VA since my renal failure was service connection. They wanted to me file a claim with SS, but I declined.
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I work for The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and was told that I had to file with SS and if they approved my disability retirement then USDA would. Hmmmm I'll have to research that a little more. I'm not going to file until the first of the year because I want to change insurance companies. ??? Thanks for the heads up.
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If you scroll back up to September 14, I said that I filed for Medicare. All I had to do was take this form (2070 or something) back to the dialysis center and have them have the Dr. fill it out and then FAX it back to the Social Security Office. I know there is a 3 month waiting period, so I started getting concerned in December when I hadn't received anything from Medicare..... no premium bill or anything. So, I questioned the stupid Social Worker and she had someone else come over to tell me it didn't get faxed. I was tethered to the dialysis chair so I couldn't get out and hit her. So they "said" they faxed it again on December 16. FINE! Here it is January and nothing from Medicare. So I tried calling the SS office I went there and shoved a note under the door!! Finally I called the stupid social worker and told her that I wanted to make sure Medicare got the FAX. Well, guess what. They didn't! I was so PISSED! I called the DaVita office and demanded to speak to the director. The gal said "Is this concerning your 2027?" I said "yes." She said "we just FAXed it." I said "Okay, I want to see the FAX confirmation from December 16." She said "we don't keep those." I flipped out and tried to make her feel incompetent if nothing else.... You don't KEEP those? Medicare is paying for this and it is pretty important to me to get it started. She apologized up and down, but I'm not satisfied! I want someone fired! I can see one screw up but TWO and with ME who they KNOW will blow UP!! >:D
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I posted this somewhere else, but here it is again because this is more appropriate.
Medicare - A federal health insurance program for people who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents, age 65 or disabled, or have kidney failure.
That is the true definition. That is why I/we qualify for Medicare.
I went to sign up for Medicare yesterday. But, first I went to the dentist... perfect! Half my face was numb. No problem qualifying. Bbbhi I'mbbbll Herebbaa to thine up forrr Meddddatare.
I think I'll schedule a root canal before I go sign up for disability!
Darla~
:rofl;
Jenna got a form from SSI disability asking if she feels better since June 2005 - uhh how do you mean exactly?? Better - off dialysis YES! But the way the form is written is so confusing you don't know what you're agreeing to. Guess we will find out soon enough.