I'm near tears even having to write this. Things have just been one long series of suck. I'll explain after the jump.
It started with this:
So back in April I was notified that I was losing Medi-Cal because I failed to renew my paperwork.
Except I had.
As Medi-Cal eligibility is what qualifies me for aid care and thus pays my live-in care provider, this meant I was losing that (and she was losing her paycheck) as well. I went down and filled out the paperwork again in the Social Services office and handed it in personally. Reassured that this would resolve everything, I went home.
In early June I got a notice from In Home Support Services that my aid care was going to be terminated June 22nd as I was no longer on Medi-Cal. After banging my head into a wall for several minutes, I called in and asked the Medi-Cal office what the fuck was going on. They said I never renewed my paperwork.
You know, the paperwork I'd now filled out twice, including in person.
After a half hour of searching, they found my (unprocessed) paperwork from when I went in back in April, and said they'd process it and renew my services.
In the meantime, my aid care still terminated June 22nd, shorting my aid a third of her hours for the month. My IHSS caseworker said she'd get a timesheet sent for the missing hours with the last, shorted check, and would reinstate my aid care. The shorted check came, but there was no timesheet. In addition, I was notified that I was being terminated at the end of July, and they didn't give us timesheets for July at all even though I wasn't to be termed until the end of the month.
I called Medi-Cal again, and they said I was enrolled and had no idea why IHSS didn't know. I called IHSS and my caseworker wasn't even aware that I had been dropped again and that the timesheets never came. She has no idea who terminated my aid care this time, but immediately reinstates me and says she'll have timesheets sent, but that it'll take 5 to 10 business days for us to get them, after which we have to fill them out and mail them back, then wait another 5 to 10 business days for checks. A third pay period (at least) will have passed by then. Yes, they'll owe us around $1100 (possibly more), but it will be about 6 weeks (maybe 8) since we received a paycheck.
I just called as I type this, and found out someone dropped the ball yet AGAIN, and timesheets weren't being sent because nobody told the person who handles them. Unbelievable! They're being sent NOW, but wouldn't be if I hadn't followed up, and it just further delays them. This would be almost funny if it wasn't so hard on us.
Some how, we have to survive the next few weeks with no income until the checks come. If the damn timesheets are even sent.
It just got MUCH worse.
Last year, the California GOP decided that they could save a lot of money if they made all the (nonexistent) illegals providing aid care have to undergo background checks. This means that every care provider has to go through DOJ checks at their own expense by the end of the year, and all new providers must before they can be paid.
When I got dropped, it turns out, my aid was removed from the system. Now she counts as 'new', meaning they won't even give her timesheets to get paid what they owe her or any hours going forward until she's gone through all the checks. Checks we have no money to pay for because they haven't paid her for anything since June 22nd. Nevermind that she should not have been dropped to begin with, and that it's their fault. We get to suffer the consequences.
So, it stands like this:
We have only $800 a month (my SS money) for the indefinite future, and our expenses are $875 a month for rent, $225 in electric (this month), $200 in past due phone and internet (to be disconnected this week), $160 in past due water (to be disconnected this week),and three mouths t feed.
Basic math is we're fucked just by rent, alone. My landlord is being cool and waiting to collect what I haven't been able to pay in one lump sum when my aid finally gets paid, but there's still bills and food and no idea WHEN she WILL get paid.
I've never been this distraught and helpless. The system is on the brink of utterly destroying our lives. Yes, I'm fighting it up the food chain, and yes I'm contacting elected officials and the media, but none of that pays the water or keeps the phone or internet or feeds us.
I'm at rock bottom, and need help. I feel less than human, having to ask strangers to help me survive, but this is where I'm at.
If you can help, my email is xlarimex(at)gmail.(dot)com, and I can tell you how to proceed if you email me. All I can offer in return is gratitude and art. Here are samples.
Sorry to trouble you all, and thank you for your time.
Larime