I have been denied disability and Medicaid. The reasons they gave are: whether my condition would last 12 months or not, whether my condition impairs my ability to perform labor or engage in a useful occupation; the consideration of functional limitations; my age; education and training; and work experience. These are all listed on my denial.
What is not listed is what needs to be. The fact that they expect you to go to a doctor a lot. That if you don't, they think you are lying. But, what they are not considering is the fact that if you are going through the process of disability and you have applied for Medicaid assistance and food stamps, that you are not working and you don't have the money to go see a doctor; that you have to choose whether your family has a home, electricity, gas to get to work and money to do laundry or use the money to see a doctor. I chose my family to have these basic necessities.
My wife and I both have had to do this. She is the only one working. I have been disabled for more than 15 months now. We are fighting to save our home, to keep the electricity on, to have gas for my wife to get to work. And we have to scrimp and scrape to have money to do laundry once or twice a month.
We have applied for assistance everywhere possible, and some of the places have said I need to be seeing a doctor before they can help. The other thing is, they are going off of medical records that were, at the time, seven months to a year old, and I have more complications that have made me worse since then. But, since we don't have the money to get the medical evidence they need, it makes me feel like they are saying I'm a liar. I didn't choose to become disabled.
But, I do choose my family. One more thing: They didn't run any tests that were pertinent to my condition or to prove I was not disabled.
