PBS: Are Americans a Stingy Lot of People?

[daredtowork]

67. Only in theory - My Medi-Cal Benefits Just Ceased Without Notice

I found out when I went in for a medical appt. on Sept. 2 (just a lucky coincidence I had an appt. at the start of the month) that my Medi-Cal benefits had been cut off. I had to get emergency indigent coverage for the clinic services, and I had to cancel another specialist appointment I had the same day.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10407442

I am still scrambling to get this fixed. Because I received no advanced noticed, I can't get coverage while my appeal to Social Services is going on.

My prescriptions were cut off. I have to get them from the County hospital. I'm kind of tempted not to refill them and stand in front of Oakland city hall and see if I get a seizure or something.

My referrals are on hold. My other appointments this months have been cancelled except for my eye injections. These were supposed to be regular. I'm hoping the Medi-Cal problem gets fixed before the appointment. I'm also supposed to be taking a special eye antibiotic 3 days in advance.

One of the referrals was for a clinical trial, and the timing was very close for that: it relied on some imaging that was almost exactly a year old. I had jumped through a ton of hoops already for that clinical trial, and now it got snagged on this.

I just realized my CPAP machine is also paid for by Medi-Cal. No one has called to take it back yet. I'm wondering if I'm going to be billed for the time "it wasn't covered" by Medi-Cal though.

I had asked one of my specialist a medication question through an online system two weeks ago: it just occurred to me I didn't get an answer because I've been cut off from that system.

Social Services has often cut me off from services without warning. (Most recently food stamps - see my sig). But this sudden cut off from Medi-Cal is by far the worse because there is no "back up" for many of the services while I'm appealing it. I don't know how long it will take for it to be fixed.

No one at Social Services ever takes responsibility for anything. They don't get "dinged" for their errors. They put people at risk all the time - their actions may indeed cause homelessness or stress people to the point of mental illness, but no one calls them to account.