The frustration continues.

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Spent hours today on the phone.

The department of human services(DHS) for Pa. cannot tell me if I can keep my Medicaid after April due to my social security.

Next month, I will be switched to the new plan that DHS forced me to take and it does not pay for medicare part D. Without part D I have no way to cover my ostomy supplies (Over $750 per month)

And here is the kicker. DHS cannot tell me if I will be cut off from Medicaid in April. I truly do not know what to do.


On top of that. Because my long-term disability insurance is paying me extra money for the foreseeable future I may lose my food stamps and more because of it. I do not have the ability to pay the out-of-pocket stuff to get medicare part D myself so without Medicaid, I am in big trouble.

I even called my direct DHS rep and she told me that as of right now I will lose my Medicaid, I am not eligible for any more assistance, and will be liable for the rest of what medicare doesn't pay. I just hope that there was a change in the amount you can make on social security and still qualify for Medicaid or I will be living at the hospital until they figure out what to do.

 

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Yeah Ohio's DHS isn't any better . Here you cant just visit the local county DHS to handle business. About 4 years ago ohio decided to take upon them selves to open up a call center, you gotta call an 800 number and go through a stupid phone tree menu to get to the dept you need to talk to. Then wait in a cue for how ever long it can vary from couple of mins to iv'e waited in cue for an hour+ or you can opt-in for a call back from someone.

The call center workers tell you one thing,for ex - they'll tell you to go into the local DHS and talk to a local worker ie case worker. But apparently they're unaware that you cant talk to a human or phyically hand paper-work to an actual human that used to be able to scan paperwork into the system and hand an actual paper recipt of scanned paperwork.

I saw first hand of the lack of communication between the call center and the local DHS workers. Yes there's case workers still in the local dhs building but they wont talk to you heck you can't even get passed the receptionist. or the 2 county sherifs deputies who are the buildings guards.

couple months ago I needed to get stuff taken care of the call center told me to take papers to the local DHS and pick up another set of paperwork.when I went in the building i told the rude lady receptionist what i needed and what i was told to drop off. I was able to drop paperwork off but not able to pick the other paper work.

Yeh it really took alot to not raise hell with the recptionist and guards , especially when they don't want to do the jobs they're hired to do. And make me feel like a total goof like i didnt know what i was talking about or told by the call center what i needed to do. the recptionst or the guards really toook offence to me saying they need to call the call center and tell them you won't/don't see folks in person here.

BTW when you drop paper work off you gotta grab a yellow envelope. fill out a paper about the papers you are turning in. You're allowed to make copies for free . Now to turn the info sheet and the paper work inside the envelope, you gotta go outside and theres a rolling cart out front that has the info sheet and envelopes on it with a built in locked drop box. you have to drop the envelope into the slot and you just walk away, you don't even get a recpt and they won't give you one either.

Well because of their incompetencies at the local DHS building I ended up loosing my benefits for over a month. because i couldn't get the above mentioned paper work from the local DHS .

 

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I’m sorry you didn’t realize that people who get Medicare do not also get continue to get Medicaid; you get one or the other. You get Medicaid only while you’re waiting for your federal disability money to kick in. And yes, Medicaid is typically better than Medicare, though that depends on which state you live in because Medicaid is assistance from a state. If you had spent even one minute talking to a disability attorney, you would’ve learned that years ago.

I’m sure the DHS treated you horribly. They are dramatically underpaid people who have to listen to sob stories all day long, every day. They work in ugly buildings with ugly, crowded desks and a lot of noise. They naturally build shields so they don’t feel anything or care about anything, let alone anyone who they’re supposed to help. You can’t count on them for anything. All they want is to get you off the phone.

Now if you had an actual attorney you were paying, he would get you real results, because he gets paid well to do so, unlike the people working at DHS.

 

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@compwiz878 Sounds horrible, but typical. Sorry to learn of your nasty experience. You can’t just walk into any part of the UT government any more, either, but particularly, not the health and human services departments. You used to be able to, but COVID ended that. You can’t even just walk into the DMV or DLD any more, either.

 

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I don't really understand the workings of the US system. My prostatectomy was entirely on the UK national health service. My follow up physio appointments, my three monthly psa testing all free at the point of service. Also Tena incontinence pads and Coloplast conveens all funded by NHS. Many criticise our health service and it is under severe pressure during these winter months. However, I have nothing but the highest praise for the wonderful staff in The National Health Service.

 

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I have multiple relatives who have died in the UK on the NHS, I think that people would never die from here. And from what I’ve heard from the people on this website such as SciFiFan about how little help they get and how long it takes to get service from the NHS, I much prefer the American system. We are in charge of what services we pursue, and win. We decide if we are going to go to a specialist and we choose that specialist. We don’t need approval from any doctors to do things like that. We don’t have to sit around, waiting for a government to make those decisions for us.

 

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I'm sorry you are battling forward as usual,but you have proven to be a warrior. I agree you need a lawyer fit to be your guide.