Just as a note, this isn't a Maine thing, it's a federal government thing; and far from unfucking it, there are those in the halls of power who seem perpetually hellbent on making it worse. They're scared to death that if they're not constantly vigilant, they might accidentally help somebody. The very idea keeps them awake at night.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Also, I seem to really like making 1-sentence paragraphs.
"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

I don't think it's that, but they are concerned about how often the government has been burned by those claiming disabilities that don't have one fleecing the government. That has happened enough times that they see bad agents behind every claim and are over reacting a bit and have swung the opposite by being too difficult to work with. All in the hope that it eliminates all fraudulent claims.

Michael C. Fortner
"Maxim 37: There is no such thing as "overkill".
There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".

---
"She's old, she's lame, she's barren too, // "She's not worth feed or hay, // "But I'll give her this," - he blew smoke at me - // "She was something in her day." -- Garnet Rogers, Small Victory

FiMFiction.net: we might accept blatant porn involving the cast of My Little Pony but as God is my witness we have standards.

If they were really concerned about people taking money from the government that didn't deserve it, they wouldn't be concerned about the penny-ante grifters, they'd look at the ones taking large bites.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

Like, say, a bouncy one?

they go 'boeing, boeing'

--
Jen Dantes - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lady of Sith Tech Support.
"This may not be a good idea, but it's the only one I have."

I feel this is the reason that A Particular Political Party Whose Name I Will Not Mention wants to continue gutting the IRS to make sure that they lack the personnel to audit the megarich and make them pay up.

In other notes if anyone has a Death Note I would like to meet up and do some writing, thank you.

Good luck with it.

Michael

McFortner
Maxim 37: There is no such thing as "overkill".
There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".

For the record, this was the third denial, in a chain running back to my original application 2½+ years ago, and came after a hearing two months ago in which I was represented by an attorney, and during which SSA's own "vocational expert" agreed on record with every point we made.

From here there's one more appeal, in which I can send the hearing judge's opinion back for a legal review, after which the only remaining recourse is to sue the federal government. But it doesn't seem right now like that really matters, since--as I'm sure the process is designed to ensure--I've all but bankrupted not only myself but also my mother trying to keep all the financial plates spinning while all this has been going on.

Naturally they dropped this denial notice in my email inbox on a Saturday morning, having somehow arranged to complete the final stage of the five-stage process in the one working day between July 3 (when they announced it was beginning and would take 15–30 days) and said Saturday, so I've just gotten to stew in it all weekend. Tomorrow morning I'll be calling my attorney's office to ask them to file the final appeal, for form's sake, and also to investigate filing for Actual Bankruptcy.

Even though that won't really help, since the vast bulk of my debts are not dischargeable by bankruptcy, because of course they're not. Also, I remember looking into it once before and discovering that it is paradoxically very expensive. But I'll ask anyway to maybe foster a sense of urgency.

Oh, did I mention that the attorney who represented me at the hearing has left the firm in the meantime? I only found that out a couple weeks ago, when I called to ask if they had heard anything. The new one they said will be picking up his case load never called me back. Maybe now I know why!

Also, I started my annual heat-related MS flareup last week, just in time for all this extra bullshit to land on me. I'm on my old pal oral prednisone and my glucose numbers are off the chain right now, and if I'm not showing significant improvement by tomorrow, my neurologist wants to talk IV roids. So that's great too!

I haven't told my mother about all this yet. I'm kind of afraid to. She's still recovering from having a heart valve replaced.

Basically, if you're all wondering why I don't seem to be very creatively active lately, it'll be because (gestures vaguely).

--G.
anyway thanks for letting me whine a bit
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Naturally, the way the system works, this doesn't mean the ruling is overturned and I win; it means the case goes back to the admin law judge (hopefully not the same one...?) for further examination. Said judge will probably order a second hearing, but all the notification I got today says is that a judge will notify me as to what I have to do next. It doesn't say when this will happen. It might be another year. Who knows nowadays?

Oh yeah, I think I forgot/couldn't bear to get into this last summer, but remember how my attorney moved away and his replacement didn't get back to me for weeks? I finally called her, a day or two before the deadline to appeal the hearing ruling, to ask whether she had done so. She seemed annoyed and clearly had forgotten all about me, then gave me a testy and patronizing explanation that she hadn't automatically assumed all of my previous attorney's cases,* but was in the process of deciding which ones to take up, and thus she had "no ethical responsibility" (her phrase) to take on mine. Which she had decided (right at that moment, I'm pretty sure) not to do.

* you know, like someone assuming someone else's workload at any other kind of business would do?

So I filed the appeal on my own recognizance on the last possible day it could have been filed, and I don't have a lawyer any more. I asked the one attorney I more-or-less know personally (who isn't That Kind of Lawyer) if she knew anyone who did that kind of work, and she said she didn't personally, but recommended a firm in Portland. I called them, but they only do VA disability work, not SSDI cases for civilians. So that was a dead end.

TLDR: My SSA disability case is still alive, apparently, but given the rate at which this system works, does it matter in any practical terms? I don't know. Given the way things have been going lately, I suppose I should take any fragment of good news I get, however small and tenuous.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

That sounds very much like something the bar association should be told about. It's hard to see how that happening doesn't involve someone having a failing in ethics or competency.

Good luck and I hope you win.

McFortner
Maxim 37: There is no such thing as "overkill".
There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."

------
Authors of our fates
Orchestrate our fall from grace
Poorest players on the stage
Our defiance drives us straight to the edge

----
dbrandon

Anyway, congratulations on your favorable judgement and I hope this helps you out enormously.

McFortner
Maxim 37: There is no such thing as "overkill".
There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".

... well...

... having gone through this process twice now, and currently going through it for my son, I can only heartily congratulate you on getting through it in such a short time.

Short? Yeah. My wife was seven years, my best friend six, and my son is watching the clock at ... three, as of right now, and staring another rejection in the face last month.

It's stupid and cruel and I think that's the point and that *sucks*, but I'm really glad you've managed to get through it and I hope they start helping out quick.

--sofaspud
--

Oof. That's... horrific. I've heard other horror stories in a similar vein, too (including a couple from my own attorney). I guess in my case I missed a really big bus, since MS used to be an automatic qualification, until the law was revised to exclude the relapsing-remitting form... right before I filed.

On the flip side, the shortest determination I've ever heard of also happened in my family, to my late uncle Paul. He filed after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure and recovering from major surgery to treat it. The case officer assigned to his first review was--somehow--a guy he knew from his time in the Navy. In the late 1970s.

>It's stupid and cruel and I think that's the point and that *sucks*,

Yeah, no argument here. As I think I've said before, most of the people responsible for running these programs--not just SSA disability, but virtually anything governmentally humanitarian--are terrified they might accidentally help the wrong people, or even help the right people "too much".

>but I'm really glad you've managed to get through it and I hope they
>start helping out quick.

Thank you. Just knowing the determination is coming is a big weight off everyone's shoulders in my little family ecosystem here. I hope they get your son's case handled sooner rather than later. If he needs representation, I can recommend the outfit that's been helping me. They've been good to work with, and I think they operate nationwide. Unsolicited plug.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

More seriously... we were advised it wasn't worth arguing that the disability began long before the first filing for same. Dunno if that's the word you got.

Hopefully this means the relief is coming soon(ish)?

--sofaspud
--

The fact that I've had neurological issues since 2007 did come up during the medical review part of the hearing, so it was a factor, but it didn't affect the as-of date.

>Hopefully this means the relief is coming soon(ish)?

Forty to 60 days, they tell me.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

... maybe? It hasn't been the only reason I haven't been able to get much going, but... well, we'll all find out together.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

... Except I got the benefit verification letter today, and the lady at SSA I talked to about my banking information said I should see my first deposit next month. (I missed the disbursement date this month by... uh... one day, which if I were a more cynical sort of man I would conclude was obviously on purpose. Not that it matters in the end, because they owe me from the date of disability.)

That's not the backdated part, or at least she didn't think it was. That will probably have to wait until another department figures out if I'm eligible for the supplemental security part. That way they're only paying out one lump sum. Maybe that was the only part they intended the 40–60-day thing to apply to. Shrug?

I think my attorneys got paid, though. Unsurprising.

Potentially less exciting, I got my Medicare card today too, but the people in the state government who can determine what that does to my Mainecare/SNAP eligibilities were too busy to talk to me today. So I get to wait until Monday to get up at the crack of dawn and call in to find out about that part.

Welp, I guess now that I'm officially retired, I might as well join AARP.

--G.
now you guys are suddenly in a hurry? not that I'm complaining, exactly, but...
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

This feels like some chaos deity throwing in a last little jab.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.