Guest Phyllis Posted May 17, 2004 Share Posted May 17, 2004 Hi, I called the Social Security office to make an appointment to apply or at least get information re: Social Security Disability. I asked him on the phone about having to wait 6 months for a check and he said that was a general rule, but not necessarily. I guess if you are bad enough it could be sooner. Let's hope cause this working and doing chemo is getting old not to mention taking off time from work to go see doctors etc. Of course I have to worry about at least being able to get medicaid, etc. The guy on the phone was going to initially qualify me as ineligible. I said hold on here I have 12 tumors in my lungs. I don't think I am not eligible. Not going to play that go get an attorney and appeal decision game they like to play. There should be a law. Jeez. He changed his tune pretty quick. The idea that I might actually be able to not worry about work and just concentrate on getting better and taking care of my daughter has brightened my day. A dumb question though. I see on here all the time that people have treatments and their tumors shrink and maybe they take a chemo break and remain stable for some time. I thought that with tumors the chemo hopefully would kill some tumors and shrink others. However, I thought the remaining tumors were then prone to become aggressive in their growth and would require continued almost immediate treatment. I don't think that the carbo/taxol is going to get rid of all of my tumors. So once I go through 6 treatments and there are remaining tumors then what. I have made an appointment to see the oncologist in MS for hopefully his support to get the rfa on my lungs. I just keep envisioning these tumors rapidly growing and stuff. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginnyde Posted May 17, 2004 Share Posted May 17, 2004 Phyllis, Norme is our in house social security expert. Although I think it is 6 months from dx, not 6 months after you stop working. I think it is then 2 years from dx for Medicaid or Medicare, not sure which. I have heard that if you are stage IV, it is a given that you will get it. You go for it, girl, you deserve it. Ginny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Phyllis, I don;'t know much about social security, but i do k now that if you have problems, there are lots of lawfirms that specialize in just helping get social security. Binder & Binder is one I have seen used in some cases, that is all they do As for the chemo, I am not sure, but I think chemo is suppowed to try to hit all tumors everywhere GOOD LUCK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy RN Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Phylis, Ginny is right. It is a 6 month wait from the diagnosis. I was unable to work from the first chemo tx so that 6 mos was a long time. Then you have 2 yrs from when the SS begins to be eligable for medicare. I suppose medicaid can step in if you are not working those 6 months. Not sure about that one. I have extensive sclc and I was approved on the first try. Get the paperwork and get it filed out. the sooner the better, it took me about 2-3 months fro final approval. Cindy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phyllis Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Thank you all so much for clearing up my confusion. It has been difficult to coordinate work with all of the chemos I have been on and the surgery I hope to get. You are such a wonderful group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ry Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 You can Pm Norme with any questions you have. I think she has just not seen your post yet. She is retired from Social Security Administraion and can help you understand anything you're not sure about. You can also search her previous posts where she has explained in easy to understand terms some things about SSD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TAnn Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Phyllis, When I was diagnosed, I could not work during chemo. I was very lucky in the fact that the company that I worked for provided short and long term disability. Once my long term disability kicked in, they had a company that specializes in getting Social Security Disability benefits approved handle my Social Sec. They handled all my paperwork and I was approved in about 4-5 months. It just takes that long for them to get all the information from all the doctors, etc. The long term disability company paid the fee for this service, so it was really the best way to go for me. Once you get approved, you will get a check for back pay from the date you became disabled. Hope this helps, TAnn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Lamb Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Phyllis,I too waited for 6 months to get first check.They told me you have to wait 5 months from diagnosis to recieve it.I was approved rite away w/no bs from them at all.No need for legal council to take my money.(no offense to any attys)It is very hard to go 6 months with no income when you are sick and broke too.But as the old saying goes things did work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janet Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Oh Phyllis, I am sorry they are giving you a hard time. That stinks! You would think a request such as yours would be met with some compassion and understanding, but I guess not. Oh yea, I guess the govt. needs to finance that war were in right now... janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norme Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 Phyllis, Just saw your post so I thought I would give you a few guidelines on your case. Cases are different from others so you can only go by your own case as far as Social Security disability benefits go. I noticed in your post that you are still working, - - full time or parttime? That in itself is a factor in considering eligibility. I don't know if you are working full time or part time or if you are being subsidized in any way by your employer. What that sometimes means is are you working full time and not preforming your job well and your boss knows that but wants to pay you because of his generousity or maybe they gave you someone to help with your work, etc. orare you doing your job full time as you did before you became disabled with no subsidy from your employer and doing it well. If so and you make somewhere in the neighborhood of $800 a monthor more, that is considered substantial gainful work even though you are disabled and that can possibly get a denial on your claim. If you are working parttime and not making about $800 a month and/or not being subsidized in any way from your employer then you could be eligible for a disablility decision. I have been out of this business for a while so not sure of the $800 amount. It could be more or it could be less but sure it is somewhere in the neighborhood. There is always a six month waiting period from the time you became disabled and unable to work, - - this is the common situation for most people filing a claim or a six month waiting period from when you could no longer do substantial gainful employment. YOu did work full time with your Stage IV disability but now am finding you have to stop. The six months would start when you stop working generally. YOu will just have to file the claim and let the claim representative speak to you regarding your own situation. They can then tell you if there will be a medical decision or an immediate denial because you are doing substantial gainful work.... As for Medicare, it starts two years from the date you are found to be disabled and eligible for payment. If you become disabled May/04 and payment started November/04 then Medicare starts Nov/06. I have seen denials many times when a person was truly disabled but could not stop working because of the fear of losing everything because that person was the breadwinner....it is sometimes a catch 22 situation for an individual.... There is also a program called SSI and that is a needs based program that is paid through the State but filed through Social Security. It pays based on a persons income and resources. If eligible for disability under that program it pays from the month of filing....there is no waiting period. It has a Medicaid card for health insurance for the disabled person. But there again, work is a factor also. If you have any other questions you can pm me anytime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Phyllis Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 Thanks Norme. I have been fortunate that I have been able to work but I think at times at the expense of my health. It is not easy to make yourself go to work every day when you know in your own mind you should be resting. I have a daughter to support and always needed the income. I couldn't live on $800.00/month. I feel like I have been hanging in there for as long as I could but now it has been since 12/01 and I am ready to cave and hopefully draw those stupid benefits that I have been working to support most of my life so I can take care of my health now and not worry about working. I have any number of doctors who would be happy to have me just stay home. I have a lot of doctor appointments to coordinate right now and would also like to spend some time with my daugther before she goes off to college. I still do my job, but I am getting more tired from the chemo, decadron, stress, etc. I will just have to see but they had better not deny me. The last thing I would need is to have to also argue with Soc. Sec. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Ry Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 Phyllis, The way it went for me was I went on short term disability ins. from my employer. Then on to long term disability ins. through my employer. After a while on long term the insurance company told me I had to apply for SS disability. The insurance carried me until the SS disability started. I had to repay the insurance company the back money I got from SS. I was never without an income. See your human resources person about the disability ins. Not all company carry it. Good luck John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanCarl Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 Phyllis, I don't know if you have this in your state, but here in California we have State Disability Insurance which I am on now. It's a short term disability insurance that you pay into when your working. Depending on the state it can last anywhere from 6 months to a year maximum. The way it's set up for me is this: I'm already aproved for SSDI and have allready passed the 6 month "wait" time. So when my state disability runs out (in November) I take the piece of paper that says this is my last state disability check to the Social Security office and my SSDI starts right away. Hope this helps. Dean Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.