The voice mail on my cell was full. It happens. If I miss a call, I look at who called and call them back. Unless, that is, I don't recognize the number. Last night the voice mail was full. A dear friend with whom I was having lunch today called to ask if we could meet an hour earlier. Of course, I did not get the message, but did call him back. He was frustrated by the full message, so I decided it was time to listen to the 20 messages hanging out in the in box.
Well...........
There was a message from Integrated Benefits, the folks who handled my disability case. The nice young man informed me that the lawyer had reviewed my case and the three rejections for Social Security Disability and that the lawyer thought we had a case. So, we are going ahead with an appeal in Federal court. It will probably be another 18 months before there is a hearing. That would be April 2011. I filed for disability when I desparately needed it in September of 2003 after trying my very best to work for 6 months.
I don't have a lot to gain from this. Maybe 1-2 thousand dollars. My back payments would go to Mutual of Omaha. Any cost of living increases would go to me. Now, I could let this go and that would be the end of it. But, to tell the truth, I was thrown away by my own government and that really, really hurts. People die while waiting to go through the system. Believe it or not, it happens. And did you know that if you DO get approved for SSDI, you do not get any health insurance for two years after the date you applied?
Everyone has a right to life.
As health care forums and updates have been going on around the country today, tea baggers have been doing the most horrid and irrational things. We need dialogue and we need action. No system is perfect, but some systems are more perfect than others. What is clear is that THIS current system may respect the lives of those in utero, but those of us who are quite outside the uterus and functioning in the world are expendable.
It will take time to fix things. I hope the time is short.
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