Thursday, March 22, 2012

{Why my daughter deserves SSI}


These days we all know someone that has worked the system to get benefits from the government that maybe they don't really need. Whether it's stretching out unemployment benefits because due to the economy you figure you can make more on unemployment than taking a job that pays less than you made in your hay day --- disability that is stretched out to be more than it really disables you --- or giving an oscar worthy performance to be able to claim worker's comp.

This is not the case with my daughter, and I will tell you why.

Although she is doing well now, with only a few continued medical concerns {ie choking, a heart PDA, hip dysplasia, and undetermined developmental effects from her brain bleed} Things weren't always this "EASY" {obviously, I use the word "easy" loosely and with the perspective that things have been a lot worse}

Back in January, I found out that preemies can qualify for SSI, and my husband and I immediately made an appointment to bring her in and file.

THey told us that it may take 3-5 months to reach a final decision, but that if we could bring in our medical records we should be able to start getting paid within 2 weeks. We brought everything in, stacks of paperwork documented with more procedures than I can even count, and the woman conducting our interview said that we had such good documentation that we should be able to start getting paid soon.


Here it is now, at the end of March--- my daughter is coming up on 5 months old, and we haven't received a penny --- all we have received are more appointments.

I've been researching whatever I can find, and unfortunately found today that my daughter may be disqualified from receiving payments due to the fact she was born mere 2 ounces over the 2lb 10 oz cut off! Keep in mind that my daughter couldn't eat for almost 5 days, and she ended up losing close to half a pound, and that she wasn't just born premature --- she was born premature AND sick with septicemia --- so sick that all the optimistic survival statisctics out there for preemies didn't apply to her.


Some people feel that prematurity doesn't warrant a disability claim, but let me break it down for you ---

At 23 weeks gestation I was hospitalized with bleeding and preterm contractions and was immediately placed on strict bed rest at home for the duration of my pregnancy which qualified me for disability for an estimated 17 weeks until my due date.

At 27 weeks my water broke, and I was then placed on hospital bed rest until my daughter was born, which by the doctors accounts could happen any minute, or still be months away. I made it 2 more weeks. I delieverd Brontë at 29 weeks via c section.

This is how it would have broken down --- had my body not deteriorated any further, and I was able to stay pregnant to term :

17 weeks of disability prior to delivery
8 weeks disability for c-section recovery
6 weeks state paid family leave

That's what by all standards I should have been paid.

Instead my even further deteriorated body and premature baby who was being kept a live by life support were awarded more medical bills and less disability - personally receiving disability for only 5 weeks out of the estimated 17, and my daughter [because of a fluke 2 ounces of water weight] hasn't received a penny, when her estimate was $768/month for her first year.

So, as it turns out, we would have received more aid from the state from being LESS disabled! How's that for a broken system?!

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