Question:
Has anyone tried their states vocational rehabilitation program for the surgery?

just curious to know who out there is going this route too. or has been approved or denied. thanks    — LaKeAffy (posted on March 17, 2002)

March 17, 2002
I applied for SSDI, Social Security Disability benefits, on January 29th. It can take anywhere from 3-6 months to get a determination from them. Last week I went and applied for Medicaid (Illinois Public Aid medical insurance) AND applied with the State of Illinois Vocational Rehabilitation Services office. For those not familiar with the SSDI or SSI programs, SSDI is based on your past work credits accumulated. SSI is based on income. You apply with your local Social Security Administration office and they send all your paperwork, including reports and records requested from your doctors, to your State Department of Rehab Services, Disability Determination office. Now a reasonable conclusion would be that when applying for the federal program, they would automatically let you apply for the state programs. But government red tape being what it is, that is not the case. Each office has its own budget and its own committee which makes determinations. One can find you disabled, another can find you not. However, if the Social Security Administration determines you are disabled, the State will accept their decision with no need for further inquiry. The SSA will NOT however accept a State's decision. I was told I'd have a decision from the Vocational Rehab department within 60 days....I can only hope that my doctors don't all disown me for putting them through all this paperwork. LOL Good luck to you. (sorry for the lengthy reply) - Anna
   — Anna L.

March 17, 2002
I too am looking into taking this route. I have read a couple of postings on here that one person did have it approved and another had it approved, but her insurance ended up paying for it so voc rehab did not. I'm not sure if it differs from state to state, but i live in Alaska and i have an app. with voc rehab to discuss this. I think that if you qualify for voc rehab services then you probably also qualify for medicaid. My understanding is that medicaid will approve it if it is medically necessary. But even if medicaid will pay for it there are some other things that i'm hoping that voc rehab will cover.
   — Amber F.

March 17, 2002
Hi all. I used Vocational Rehabilitation for my surgery. I had surgery on 9/17/01. I had no problem whatsoever. I applied and in a short time was told to schedule surgery. They paid for the hospital (stayed in a week), anesthesia and the surgeons fee (fortunately, my surgeon waived his fee). The consults, phsych eval and pre-op I had to pay for on my own. I have asked him to write another letter to VR and see if they will pay for my panni that I will need. Haven't heard yet about that. I'm six months post-op and down 100lbs. Good luck to you all.
   — Jennifer H.

March 17, 2002
Voc Rehab DOES vary from state to state. The only way to find out what it will and won't do is to call your own state's Voc Rehabe and talk to someone there.
   — garw