So for going on 2 years now we have been dealing with different government agencies. There are many different resources out there to help families in need. Problem is "need" is a relative term. Anyway, for a long time we have not qualified for help because for one reason or another something has been in the way, just about the time we get one thing in line with qualifications the policy changes and such is the vicious cycle.
Finally in June we were qualified for SSI benefits. Haleluah!!! This means extra income and a medical card. From day one the income has been irrelevant. We never wanted the money although it will be helpful... The medical card was the crucial piece. Just as info SSI benefits run 2 months behind. So we qualify in June and then receive the benefits in August. So a direct deposit shows up in Avangeline's savings acct on August 1. So I call the Social Security office and inquire as to when the medical card will be showing up. I was then informed that they do nothing with the medical part of it and I will need to contact SRS. Why I was not informed of this in the beginning is yet to be determined. So I contact SRS and ask when my card will be showing up. They have no record of us needing a medical card... You have to apply for one, imagine that. So a little about the application, first off it is 13 pages long, and then they allow extra space at the end just in case you need it. Guess what with a family of 6 it ends up being about 15 pages long. Now I am no stranger to this application because I had just filled one out for childcare assistance. Witch by some loophole we don't qualify for but that is another story. So I just ask them to use the application they have on file to process the card. No can do. It boils down to a box being check on the form but they cant use the same application. So I fill out a new application, hand deliver it to the SRS office, wait a few days and call to check status. I do not have to qualify, that has been done with SSI so in my mind it should be a file and print card type deal... Well at any rate day one I call, no application on file... Day 2 I call no application on file... each time I am given the number to the healthwave group, also no app on file. So by Friday I am loosing my cool. The lady on the other end of the phone says it would be just as easy to fill out a new app because there is no record of it in their office. So I give her an ear full about how with all I have to do filling out another 15 page application that they have one of on file but won't use and is making no effort to find the one I brought and put in a mans hands, so on and so on... So I tell her I will give it one more day and then they can expect to see me in the office filling out a new application and not leaving until it has been processed. Of course she trys to explain to me that it takes time and that it will be impossible to process the form with me in the office because they have 45 days to get it done. I assure her that I will get my way and to expect a call Monday. So it's Monday, and as promised I call the office this time I get a very nice man who makes an effort to find the application and is very sympathetic and asks that I give him an hr and he will call me back. One hour later this nice man calls and states he has e mailed the entire office, talked to the man who received my application, and done everything he can think of to find the app. No sign of it... This call takes place at 3:12 according to my call log, so I drive to the office pick up a new form, go home to get the kids off the bus. I am frantically filling out this application, by the time the kids get off the bus I am ready to storm the office. Off we go. I walk up to the desk and the guy takes my application and says thank you. When I don't leave he asks if I need to see someone and I tell him that until the application is in the hands of the person who will process it I am not leaving. So he looks up who that would be and guess what?!? He says "mam we have an application on file through Healthwave, received on Sept 30th It was processed at 3:30 today. Is this for something different" I just through up my hands and told him to shred it. I have the big kids with me of course and they follow me out to the van where I scream a good reliving scream. Olivet says what was that for so I spout off something about incompetent Government people and proceed to cuss the government for a good mile or so...
Funny part.
We stop by Dillions to get a few things for dinner and Jason calls and asks me to get him some allergy medicine. So we stop by the pharmacy counter and being that I had not purchased allergy meds there before they ask for my drivers licence. Olivet asks "why do they want that" I told her that bad men have made it so that mommy has to tell the government when she buys daddy allergy medicine. Olivet in her loud boisterous voice says "THE GOVERNMENT!!! Who IS the government?" So all the little old people waiting on their prescriptions laugh and the staff is laughing, and I am laughing. But poor child really didn't know who the government was because they just made mommy mad at 500 Van Buren, and now they were at Dillions...
Easter
12 years ago
