Some Good News . . . But With a Catch

I received a letter yesterday from Social Security. I have already been approved for social security disability.

Yes. That's right. Three (or was it four?) weeks after I applied.

The catch is that I need to be "disabled" for five months before I start receiving disability benefits. That means I will be eligible for benefits beginning November 2011 and will get the payments the month afterwards. For me, that'll be around Christmas.

That leaves some questions about insurance. Even though I am currently disabled, does this mean that I have to wait until November to apply for something like the Oregon Health Plan? If so, my current coverage ends at the end of September, so I will either need to have something else in place and/or pay COBRA out of pocket for October/November/December.

There's also a relatively new Oregon insurance program, too, that I need to look into.

So, tomorrow, in addition to starting radiation, I will have to make phone calls about what insurance I am eligible for. I'll call the state, maybe my own human resources department, and the social security office.

I also need to verify that my private disability insurance (which I pay for but which is offered by the state) benefits won't be deducted from social security.

Speaking of private disability insurance, I called my analyst (or tried to) last Monday and Tuesday. I tried three times on Monday; twice I decided to try to wait on hold, but after about 15 minutes each time, I gave up. I called again on Tuesday and had to press so many buttons to get to a real human voice. That person tried to get hold of my analyst and also looked up my disability claim. My old claim (from April) was closed and there wasn't any evidence in the computer of a new claim. The "real voice" tried may analyst and got her voice mail (which I also got several times) and said she'd leave a message for her to call me back. I didn't get a call on Wednesday, and then, of couse, I was in the hospital Thursday and Friday. So, I need to try again tomorrow. My analyst, Sokunthea at the Standard INsurance Company, told me on June 7th that I did not have to do anything and that she would send my paperwork in for a new claim. If, by god, she hasn't done that, someone at the Standard will have hell to pay.

Standard was so fast with the April claim, so the fact that I haven't heard anything by now is disturbing. In the meantime, I will only get a couple of hundred dollars on this check, which is not enough to pay the monthly bills. Luckily, I have some in savings and can use other sources to cover things until I do get a real person on the line to put in the claim and if they work as fast as they did in April, I should get my four weeks of disability payments within a couple of weeks.

Adventures with Social Security and Billing

I got a bill the other day from Samaritan Health Services for $1217. At the time, I was on a phone with a nurse from my insurance company who was checking in to make sure I was well after surgery. I told her about the bill, so she got someone from one of the departments who helps patients with bills like this. From what he could tell, it seemed that Samaritan hadn't given me the full adjustment amount (as stipulated in the contract between Samaritan and Providence) they were supposed to. So, he said he would call Samaritan's billing department and talk to them. He called me back about 10-15 minutes later and reported that I shouldn't have to pay the bill and to call Samaritan and make sure that I owed a zero balance.

When looking into what my social security benefit might be, I found a statement from two years ago. Then, on my blog, Caroline told me that they stopped sending paper statements and said that I could go to SSA's website to get an estimate of my benefit amount. So, I tried that, but after giving them the identifying information (social security number, name, place of birth, birthdate, mother's maiden name), the site couldn't complete my request. I tried a couple of times and then I called the SSA office's 1-800 number. A few minutes later, a real person called me back, she asked for my identifying information and then informed me that there was a discrepancy between what she had and what I answered. The fix? To go to the local office and bring my birth certificate and ask them to straighten it out.

Well, I had to turn in paperwork there anyway, so I brought my birth certificate. The woman who helped me said that there was no discrepancy - that when she pulled up my SSN, what she had in my computer matched what was on my birth certificate. She had no idea what the discrepancy might be.

This is why you start this process as soon as you can.

One can also make a choice about how to approach situations like this. I could get angry and all stressed. Or, just calmly figure out what hoop to jump through and jump through it. And, then laugh at the absurdity of it all!

I will say that other than this silly discrepany, things have happened fairly promptly with the local SSA office. I applied online on Wednesday, filled out the Medical History form online yesterday, which was the same day I received forms that I needed to fill out, which I brought in this morning. Zip zap. Let's hope the rest of this application process goes as smoothly as it has!

An interesting option

It occurred to me yesterday to look at my Social Security statement - you know the one they send each year about how much you'd receive when you retire and/or go on disability and how much the survivor benefit might be?

Well, the statement I received in 2009 (couldn't locate last year's or this year's) gave me an amount that would cover my COBRA benefits if I went on disability. Between that and my long-term disability payments, my monthly expenses would be taken care of and I'd have insurance.

Plus, I'd be on Medicare, I presume. So, it would mean getting a supplemental insurance for that.

I just don't know if social security would say I'm sick enough to be disabled. But it is enough to look into. Sorta hate saying I'm disabled because I don't FEEL that sick. But I just might have to make that choice anyway.