Goodbye to Medicaid

Well I've decided to drop Medicaid. I have Medicare to cover my hospital and medical insurance, and SSD to cover additional needs. And I realized all Medicaid was doing anymore was limiting my desire to save money for future plans and sending me threatening notes on a regular basis and getting my blood pressure up higher than necessary. And as one once said, "Ain't NOBODY got time for that!"

I've been sorting out things in my mind and heart that have hurt, bothered, and frustrated me regarding my disability over the last few years. Most of these pieces I've been able to deal with through creative writing, and its brought healing. But this week I was trying to deal with my feelings about home care agencies, Aging and In-Home Services, and Medicaid, and though I had a pen in my hand, all I was inspired to do was throw it at something... this is the corner of my psyche that is just terribly ticked off and indignant.

The paper work, the interviews, the reviews, the red tape - it's all a game! My brother and I are actually "overqualified" for home care, because we cannot transfer ourselves out of our wheelchairs. Seriously, you get points for the number and level of your needs, and when we were blantant and honest, we ended up with TOO MANY points! And guess what? That does not motivate us to be honest with this system about anything!

So what are people like us supposed to do, if we can't get home care workers to lift us out of our chairs? Do they think we live in our chairs 24/7? Is that what they want us to do? It doesn't promote independent living at all. (I'd like to add in here that I work very hard, as a 31 year old woman to keep myself under 100 pounds of weight, and I know my brother weighs less than me.) Why are home health aids not trained in the proper and safe way to lift that kind of weight? And wouldn't it make sense that as needs increase, so would services?

I originally thought Medicaid would help to buy special equipment for me to make my life more accessible. But everything requires so many forms and approvals and bids and things, that you can't get anything within 3-6 months of when you first ask for it. And I'm sorry, but if I realize I have a need, it's a pretty immediate need... I can't wait six months for Medicaid to build a ramp so I can get in and out of my rental apartment. So everything I've needed, my dad has built for me or I have bought on my own. So thanks, but no thanks.

I could go on, and maybe I will another day, but you get the point. I figure if I don't have to minimize my checking and savings account combined to under $2000 at all times in order to keep my Medicaid service, I can actually save my money over time and pay for my own care, and simultaneously get rid of the headache and insane frustration this "service" is meant to provide. So good-bye, Medicaid! I hope I never have to deal with you again!