Help 4 A Friend

I have a GF who is unemployed and has no insurance and is in desperate need of WLS. I felt so bad for her after talking to her the other night and told her I would ask around for any info i can get for her. I think she came to me b/c I am an ex-case Manager. She would not qualify for medicaid b/c she has no children, I told her she may need to look into appliying for disability and see if she can obtain medicare and collect ssi as well. She believes she is discriminated against when she applies for work. Any info or help you can provide will be very helpful.

I don't know if someone can qualify for disabilty based on weight, in fact, I'm pretty sure you can't.  You didn't mention if she's got other issues that would qualify for disability.  Also, most people have to fight to get disability for years.  If she was able to get over that hurdle and qualify, she would not get Medicare for 29 months  after the initial disability is determined.

If she is discriminated against when she applies for work, that sounds more like a vocational rehab case, but here in GA, voc rehab is only for those who are "mentally challenged" (ie mild-to-moderately mentally impaired).  The only other suggestion would be to see if the Department of Labor has a program to help her get work.  They may have the ability to help her with education and maybe even the surgery.

-TS 

Yes, You actually can get disability payments if you're morbidly obese. If you are approved for SSI, you'll automatically be approved for Medicaid also.  I have several people on my caseload getting SSI because of their weight.  All these people are super morbidly obese, not just a hundred pounds overweight.

She would need to prove the weight is impairing mobility, keeping her from work, causing pain, etc... if she has good medical documentation, the application will go faster.

                        Sorry, but I have to vent now...


You can also get disability for side effects of alcoholism and drug abuse (my aunt was a crack addict and got SSI which she smoked up every month up until she died) She ruined her kidneys with the drugs and had to go on dialysis. I loved my aunt dearly, but don't know why the gov't would give a crack addict $600 a month??? I think the money contributed to her death because she just bought more dope with it . They give  SSI for ADHD  (remember when they used to just be bad azzed kids and would get a switch to their behind? Now they get a check and meds which the parents sometimes sell on the black market), You can also get SSI for depression. I'm depressed every 15th and 30th when I see my government employee paycheck, think I may qualify for SSI?  The list goes on and on....   We have a crazy government system don't we?  

Mind you the gov't gives disability for these "conditions", give illegal aliens food stamps (and don't count all their income in the budget).  All this while they won't allow full time college students to receive food stamps.  So, if you're bustin your butt trying to better yourself, the gov't won't feed you. But, if you're laying on your back with 7 different baby daddies,  breeding food stamp babies and illegal alien food stamp babies, they pile the benefits on.  

They'll give Emergency Medicaid to illegal aliens to keep popping out welfare babies, but if you're a single 20-64 year old with no minor children dying from cancer or AIDS, your gov't gives you the middle finger and a rejection letter in 30-45 days.  Yep, even if you've worked all your healthy live, you likely won't get a dime of assistance when you fall on hard times. You won't even get a free band-aid or a generic Tylenol.

These are the crazy policies I have to deal with at work everyday.

It all gives me interesting reflection as I drive 75 north every evening from my beloved office. 


Thanks OH family for letting me vent. I feel better now!!!!! I can go to work tomorrow, put on my fake smile, and dish out some more undeserved money.

LaShelle,
I think you added on to your original post because when I saw your post earlier, I was livid and decided to bite my tongue.  Maybe I just didn't read the rest of it 'cause I was so livid with the first part.

If one can get disability for being SMO than a good chunk of people on OH should/could be on disability...including me.  I started out with 250-ish pounds to lose.  So I've read through all the documented stuff on disability on the government website.  Which boils down to you have to prove you can't do your work and you can't be trained to do other work (i.e. maybe a 450 lb bartender can't stand on his feet for hours but could be trained to do a desk job).  You have to prove how it's not only affecting your work life but also your home/personal life.  I found obesity specifically under "musculo-skeletal" info and it talks alot about being about to "ambulate effectively". 

As far as documentation for disability, I know many people who have had to fight tooth-and-nail to get disability (who truly deserved it) with an attorney and working on it for years before they got approval.  And that's with EXCELLENT documentation.  It's not easy.  My mom's disability was a record...4 months from start to finish, she hired an attorney to initiate the process and had excellent documentation from all her physicians.  But, generally speaking, that's unheard of.

I agree with you about all the people who get disability, Medicaid, etc who don't deserve it.  But that's another story for a different day.  Maybe (yeah, right, in my dreams) President Elect Obama can fix this while he's in Washington too!

Oh and you don't automatically get Medicaid, you get Medicare but not Medicaid with disability.

Medicare = elderly or disabled

Medicaid = poor

Thats actually not correct. You are automatically approved for Medicaid with SSI approval.

Medicare is for retired or disabled people receiving Social Security or Retiremnt and Survivors Disability Income (RSDI). Medicare requires the recepient to pay a premium of 96.50 per month which is deducted from their RSDI allotment. 

Funding for SSI is from a fedeal government indigent person program. It is for people who do not have sufficient work history to have paid into the RSDI fund.

Social Security is from money you have pre-paid to the government from employemnt. This is what they are deducting from your paycheck. You can get this at age 65, or if you become disabeld prior to 65.

Okay, I used to work with children who got SSI for the Medicaid part only due to disability so they could get the therapy and related services they needed. 

So what you are saying is that people (like my mom) who worked most of their lives get "regular" disability.  People who DIDN'T WORK and earn enough credits in the system are rewarded for having been lazy and not worked by being given disability AND Medicaid.

Admittedly, some people really do need it...BUT

Yep, that's pretty much how it works... The one exception is if you did work all your life, and your earnings were low. You may get a smaller RSDI and partial SSI, but would still get the Medicaid. In that case, your Medicare premium is paid by the gov't.

As long as your income is low enough for SSI, you wil get Medicaid.

Im sorry Roxy, I m no help at all here!!  Good luck on your quest.

Hugs.

G

 

I havent had a job  since May.  I dont have any money anymore dont know how I am going to pay for bills or anything else!  But I got my surgery on 12-04-08 thanks to Medicaid Amerigroup!
I have food for my child thanks to my mother untill 1-12-09 and my apt. is paid for.
Tell your GF to contact the nierest DFCT office and apply for everything and anything.
If you want this surgery its a sacrafice you have to make and everybody in your family as to help if not...

Good Luck to your GF.

Jade