The app is refusing to upload commentary again.
I recall that I think it was Florida got caught with internal memos and stuff years ago, with an “unofficial”-official policy of automatically denying applications regardless of eligibility in hopes that people would just go away and not be able to appeal. And that was stuff like TANF, where they knew full well that little kids were bearing the brunt.
That was just one case where it was documented and they faced scrutiny over it. I am sure that other states (very much including Virginia, where I was–and it’s at least as bad as Florida in a lot of ways) are doing the same crap, besides all the paperwork “losing” and “oops, you’re just not in our system!”. Besides similar bureaucracies at the federal level.
The only reason I had any kind of disability or medical benefits for years was because my mother knew her stuff and was persistent. A lot of people just don’t have the knowledge or the ability to keep chasing after them and making effective threats. I just don’t have the ability, at all, and never have. If something happens to my partner, I’m just screwed now.
It struck me as particularly ridiculous how they kept dumping me off Medicaid, which I shouldn’t have even had to submit a full application for since SSI makes you automatically eligible. Because they did have to cover the gap with back payments every time. (Unlike the food stamps, where they did actually save money.)
But, I was temporarily very limited in the medical care I could get, though thankfully my grandmother could temporarily cover any regular prescriptions that the doctor couldn’t make up in samples. (My main doctor was a good guy and would see me anyway, but you can bet pharmacies aren’t giving stuff out and billing later. And a lot of medications are bad to stop suddenly…) A lot of other people wouldn’t have that kind of backup available. I was lucky.
It was disruptive, and I suspect that was the main point. Besides the fact that it would have been hard for Social Services to claim they’d never heard of me to avoid paying out the huge $25/month in food stamps, without also dumping me off Medicaid–with their administering both programs. 😐
Reminded of this again, with the most recent Medicaid fuckery. Glad I found an earlier post I thought I remembered, not to have to repeat.
Haven’t been running across much discussion of this crap as an additional goal with the application changes. When pretty much anyone who has dealt with the system has already run into enough deliberate obstructionism as things stand already. Just another way to try to weed people out–and generally the ones who need it the most.
It does frustrate me, how many people who have not needed to rely on these programs want to assume they’re working fine now.
(Including with the “Medicare For All is the only way!!!” crowd. If you truly think that, you probably haven’t dealt with Medicare yourself or had people you care about harmed by the system as it exists in reality. Let’s fix it to be fit for purpose, and then maybe we can consider the rest. Yeah, some coverage in theory is way better than nothing at all. But, I am not going to pretend that’s ideal in practice. Those are not the only choices.)
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 