As I have written before, while we await Sandi's knee surgery (assuming the inusrance company ever processes claims correctly) she is home on unpaid Medical leave. Because she has no paycheck we had to update our food stamps situation. The fact that she had no income meant we had to start all over and do a new application. She submitted another application more than a month ago and finally had a brief interview by phone last Thursday. The caseworker in Midland said that she would be sending a letter updating the case but everything was set for processing.
Saturday we got a letter from the state updating our food stamp case. In addition to sending in copies of our birth certificates for the fourth time in six months, we also now had to be fingerprinted. Both Sandi and I had to report to our nearest office (the paperwork did not tell us what office that was) or why we had to suddenly be fingerprinted. The letter also informed us that we had to send the birth certifates back to Midland in far West Texas and be fingerprnited by Monday, July 11, 2011 or we would be denied, benefits would be stopped, and the case closed.
Between the mail delays between here and Midland and the holiday, it meant that the time frame was ridiculously short.
A little online research Saturday afternoon indicated that Texas is one of three states still insisting that recipients be finger printed though the USDA believes such a requirement is totally unnecessary. Some further research indicated that the office we had to report to was up in McKinney. We wanted to call and see if that was where we had to go and how to do all of this to meet their time frame, but clearly calling on Saturday wasn't going to work.
Once Tuesday rolled around, we quickly verified the numerous complaints online about how folks working in the office didn't answer the listed number. It became clear that all we could do was take the hour and drive up there to try and get the fingerprinting done. Apparently the fact that both of us had been fingerprinted in the last two years by the local school district, as well as at other times by both state and federal entities, wasn't going to help in this case.
It took an hour plus to get up there yesterday only to discover that neither employee tasked with fingerprinting was there working. The front desk clerks had no idea why they were not working, but "guaranteed" the persons would be working today. So, all we could do was leave and make the long hour plus drive home.
By the time we got home, I was in utter agony with my left leg swelling up and numb. Driving any distance is painful and going an hour plus across town and up the interstate to the North did a real number on me. The last thing I wanted to do was go back up today.
But, we did. Another hour plus to get there. This time, a fingerprint person was there. However, it was not simple to just go in and get them done and leave. Instead, we had to give the impersonal clerk at the front desk our paperwork and driver licenses and were tersely told to have a seat. Apparently our simple problem was a major inconvenience to her. She wasn't going to tell us anything and was very annoyed that we didn't have to fill out her paperwork as we had the official forms sent by the worker in Midland pre-filled out. Banished to the waiting area, we sat with about another forty people and waited. From overhearing scattered conversations it became clear that most visits are multi hour affairs that take days for folks to complete.
In our case, it took a little over an hour to get to the clerk for the pictures (the driver license ones are not good enough for some reason as they have to have their own) and the fingerprinting of the left and right index fingers only. The picture and fingerprinting took about five minutes. The birth certificates were refused. We were told we absolutely had to mail them to the post office box in Midland as the staff in McKinney could not accept them since our case was being handled in Midland.
Then it was another hour plus to home. It took over six hours and two trips up and back to get something relatively simple accomplished in an office that is clearly overwhelmed and in crowded working conditions. It certainly isn't going to get better considering the fact that Governor Perry and his Republican party folks in the legislature recently rammed Medicaid and Food Stamp funding cutbacks for recipients and state employees.
As I write this, my left leg is swollen and elevated, my back to my neck is killing me, and I hurt horrendously everywhere. I am done for today after I write this blog post. My day will now be spent in pain and lying on the floor paying the price for their process.
But, more than that, I feel bad for the families and solitary figures I saw sitting in the waiting room losing the day waiting to get help in a system poorly designed that punishes those who need help.
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4 comments:
Think about it. Every day, week, month, year the state can delay paying benefits--whether legitimate like yours or not (food stamps/medicaid/social security or whatever) is money they have 'saved' in the medicaid/Social Security/Food Stamp budget.
Some states are easier to navigate. Texas doesn't appear to be one of them--not even close.
It sounds like financial aid that helped me get through college. They constantly lost my papers. I'd stand in line--they wouldn't sign any reciept that I'd delivered them--and then it wouldn't get processed or show up. I'd have to get an 'emergency loan' to stay in classes (funny the university had no problem offereing this) and go through the paperwork again.
Later I learned (or was told) that it was meant to weed out those that really didn't need the money. I thought that is what the guidelines to apply and tables telling what amount one qualified for were supposed to do.
I suspect you're in for a long night. I hope you're feeling better in the morning.
I realize that I am in Ohio, but a few things that may help in the future...
1.) Any time you call an office that doesn't answer, press "0" until you get a live person. Most government phone systems have that as a stand-by even if they don't mention it as an option.
2.) If you haven't already, make up a file of all of the documents you need to file/refile such as birth certificates, bank statements, etc. Will it cover everything? maybe so, maybe not, but it will save you some trouble later.
3.) Understand that government running anything will mean overworked bureaucrats who may or may not understand the red tape. Always write down who you talk to and the date and time of the conversation as well as the gist of it.
4.) If you turn in paperwork anywhere, get a signed, dated receipt from the person who took it in. It helps to "remind" them that others are watching what they do. :-)
These are some of the things that I have used to help my clients through the system.
Thank you, Terry.
I am doing a little better this evening than I was last night.
Texas outsorced the process so things are very different, Kathleen.
1) Yes, we know that trick and it does not work for this office. They don't answer phone calls. There is no live person monitoring the system and there is no stand by mode.
2.) Yep, we did that.
3.) Yep, we do that.
4.) They refuse to provide receipts or sign for certified mail. The policy is to refuse to do either and they simply won't do it as has been reported here in the media over the years.
One hopes that for now things are done.
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