This morning I drove to my parents' house, because at my rural house the phone signal isn't strong enough to continue a long, unbroken conversation. I called the FSSA (the people who handle Medicaid, food stamps and welfare) from there.
First I learned that their computer system couldn't find our file. Then I spoke to Julie. Julie seemed like a nice person. But she's just another powerless cog in a big, seriously messed-up machine.
I found out that my paperwork from the week of July 9'th wasn't processed until August 16, which was waaay after that 10-day deadline. Julie told me that the storms this summer delayed everything. So of course, we must be punished for this. (my words, not Julie's)
I was told that when my husband goes off to guard, it looks to the FSSA as if he quit his old job, got a new job, and then quit that. They have no understanding of how the National Guard works, in spite of the numerous times I've tried to explain it to them. The good news is that Julie said I do not have to turn in the National Guard paperwork. The bad news is that they want me to turn in every Guard pay stub from now on. I'll be sending a note explaining the situation with each pay stub. But I'm really concerned that every time they receive something from me it will trigger more paperwork.
Meanwhile I've got a couple of kids that I would like to take to doctors and dentists, but I can't until this gets straightened out. And once we get cancelled, they'll assign us a new doctor again, and it will be another protracted fight to get our old doctor back.
I am also going to have to wait for them to send me more paperwork, because they've screwed up on that. They can't figure out who my husband's civilian employer is, even though I have told them. But don't think I'm going to get an extension on that time limit. Julie said that they can always go back and pay our medical bills after I get reinstated, but this happened once before and they never did pay off the dental bill we were surprised with.
Once the 29'th hits, and we get cancelled, I'll probably have to reapply all over again, and send all sorts of paperwork--all of it in ten days, of course.
This is what it's like to be poor. Filling out endless reams of paperwork, trying desperately to get a little help, spending hours and hours on the computer and telephone, copying everything, sending the same forms and copies of documents over and over again. It's like begging. Please give me a little money so my children can go to the doctor. It's demeaning, constantly trying to prove my husband's employment status, our household income, my disability, how many children we have.
How many times can we send the same birth certificates and social security cards? As many times as they demand them. We wish we could tell them to go to hell, but we have to have that medical and dental care for our children. The FSSA holds our children's health hostage.
Wait until my husband gets deployed one day and they immediately cancel the medicaid. I'd bet the media would eat that up.
Anyway, after the phone call, the girls and I went and got the groceries we hadn't been able to find time to get yesterday. Yesterday was busy--we did the dollar store, the dentist--
--our dentist is a nice guy. I've been with him a long time, and never regretted it. He numbed me up really well. But my metabolism does not allow that to work. So after waiting for it to take effect, I finally had to get another round of shots and wait some more.
After that it was lunch time, and then I dropped three girls at my parents, and another girl and I went to the doctor. Now I'm wondering--will her bill get paid, or will we get stuck with that? Anyway, after all the paperwork and doctor's visit, I had to go somewhere else and get blood drawn for an entire slew of tests. It was late when we got home (and my parents had taken us out for dinner) and then that paperwork was in the mail and I literally spent the rest of the night dealing with that so it could go out in the mail the next day.
So, today....after speeding through some of the more important chores and going to my parents' house to use the phone, the girls wanted to go to Wal-mart, so I bought a couple of things there and checked out a few of the more expensive items on my grocery list, in case anything was on sale. I'd already checked out Kroger's sale prices for the week, so I didn't buy much at Wal-mart. Wal-mart often has great day-old bread, though. Our deep freeze pays for itself. And I saved $35 with coupons today at Krogers--that might be a record for me. I saved another $30 with sales, not to mention how much I probably save in general just by buying cheap generic staple food. For under $200 I had the cart so full we had to carry a couple of things. Chicken was on sale, so I bought eight large packages--meat's supposed to go up eventually, so I'm starting to prepare. Chicken is starting to be cheaper than beef. And it's healthier anyway. I'm also not afraid to take advantage of sales where you get a great price if you buy ten of something, as long as it's something that will keep and that I know we'll use. So we have a lot of Alfredo sauce and a lot of diet Dew.
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