You may recall my scathing letter to the governors office about the medicaid denying my back brace and the now over 9 months waiting for SSDI to make a decision... They looked into the SSDI thing and supposedly a decisionw as made and the letter mailed on friday... I still don't have the letter; it normally takes one day to get anything form them as they are only 30 miles from here.

Yesterday I got another email from the Health and Human Resources Director for the state. It seems he took it upon himself to file an appeal for the back brace on my behalf; even though the letter I wrote the first time explained that it has been 7 weeks since I broke it, therefor the brace does me no good at this point.

In this email I am told I will receive a "full and fair opportunity to present your case at the hearing for this appeal".

I wrote them back: Unfortunately I will not have a full and fair opportunity to present my case. I broke 2 vertebrae in my spine on Feb 12, 2010. It is now the end of March and it will be the end of April before the hearing. At this point the brace that would have aided in my recovery is completely pointless.(blah blah blah) As I stated in my original letter, we do not yet know the irreparable damage done to my spine that could have been prevented had I been approved for the brace.

(blah blah blah)
I do also thank you for looking into the Medicaid issue on my behalf and thank you for getting back to me so quickly. But this is a regulation issue that needs to be addressed with the Medicaid system. I do not see how an item that is prescribed as medically necessary to treat a fracture can be denied based on age.
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Today i get a call from Medicaid. If I want to withdraw my appeal, I need to send in a written request! Hello, I didn't file the appeal to begin with!

Get em girl!!!

You tell 'em legz! There's NO excuse for any of it.

Oh Brother!!!.....it sounds like politics is alive and well in your area with all the buerocratic (sp?) mumbo jumbo! It sounds so familiar -- the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. I hope and pray your back is healing correctly and your pain level has returned to a more "normal" place.

Years ago I was a secretary in the City Clerks/City Council office of a large city. It was truly an eye-opening experience!!

You Go Girl!!!!

You know on the one hand, I want to cancel the appeal because it is a waste of time for all parties involved; The ortho surgeon already determined we are now 5 weeks too late for the brace to do any good.

But on the other hand, I am afraid if I do cancel the appeal, then I void any hopes of fixing whatever is wrong in there because I didn't get the brace when i had the opportunity. So I dunno.

In my explaination (during the blah blah blahs) I compared it to breaking my arm and being refused a cast. Had I broken my arm, and had to wait 3 months to get the cast, they would then have to re-break my arm to get it in the cast. It's like telling a pregnant woman she needs a cesarian; and then waiting until her kid is 3 months old to approve the surgery.

This system makes no sense. And had I not spent the last 9 months fighting with disability even though I have 4 specialists saying I am disabled and unable to work, I would have had the money to pay my premiums and keep my Cobra benefits and all of this could have been avoided.

Maybe go and take a letter from your doctor stating it is too late and that you may need more care based on that fact. That way they know ahead of time that more care will be needed.