We are about to venture into the ridiculous….

If you read my last post you will know that I because of an account I had, I was required to pay back Social Security $12,000.00 in benefits – which I knew was dead wrong.

It took them all of 4 days after receiving the account information and the spend down documentation to send me a letter informing me that I had to pay back a year and a half of DC’s Social Security benefits in the amount of $12,000.00.

After sending two appeal forms and hearing nothing I finally got to talk with someone (On December 17) who informed me that the issue was disposed of! They were very quick to let me know I owed them a large sum of money but very lax in notifying me that the case was disposed of. Understanding the incompetence of this agency, I asked for a letter verifying that fact. I was assured that a letter was going out that day.

In the meantime, I was notified that my step-father, without my knowledge and against my expressed wishes, made DC the beneficiary on a small life insurance policy in the amount of $1500.00. He is not allowed to have more than $2,000.00 in resources at any one time. $1,500.00 is less than $2,000.00, you say? He should be all right, you say? No! That is not how it works. To determine his resources, they take the highest amount of money in his account for the month and add the extra resource to that (If he did not have an account, then they just take the amount of his monthly check and add from that). The highest balance will always be the amount of his Social Security check, so it will always come up over $2,000.00, not by much but it will be over (a friend of mine’s son had his benefits suspended for a .20 <twenty cent> overage).

And Hey! – Fun Fact!

If you would like to be called stupid, hysterical and be screamed at by everyone that you know and are related to, just have something like this happen. It is just fun, fun, fun.

Just to answer all of the “questions” asked “very loudly” of me (because everyone else without adult children with special needs knows better, you know).

No! I cannot just not accept it because the insurance company is required to report it under his name as abandoned. This means that his benefits will be suspended until I spend it down (without actually having the money because I did not accept it) and will still be on the hook to pay back whatever amount they determine I should pay.

No! I cannot take it and deposit it in an account out of state, because the act of taking it makes it a resource. It does not matter where it goes.

No! I cannot deposit into his Special Needs Trust, an Able Account or a Burial Fund, unless his trust etc., was the designated beneficiary to begin with. Yes, depositing it into one of those places MAY qualify as spending it down, but it would still be considered a resource because it was paid out to him BEFORE going into one of the accounts mentioned above.

My step-father’s executor gave the insurance company my contact information. The insurance company, because DC is an adult, needed his guardianship papers so that they could legally talk to me.

Yes! I do have to send them his guardianship papers! We, as parents of special needs children HAVE to go to probate and become the legal guardians of our children when they turn 18 because in the eyes of the state and federal government – special needs aside – they are adults, and should legally be able to make decisions for themselves. If I were not his guardian, I would not be able to talk to his doctors, meet with his day program, chose a day program, make appointments… you get the picture. Bottom line is that HE IS AN ADULT AND BECAUSE THE POLICY WAS IN HIS NAME, THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED, LEGALLY TO TALK TO ME ABOUT ANY OF THIS WITHOUT HIS GUARDIANSHIP PAPERS!

Yes! They could make me pay back $12,000.00 over $1500.00 – they tried to have me pay back $12,000.00 over $2,600.00.

Even though I knew all of this (because I DO know things), I contacted an attorney who verified everything I just wrote.

He also said that I could actually use some of his monthly expenses as part of the spend down.

I already knew the drill, but he advised me to report it as soon as possible. As soon as I received the check (on Dec. 24^th) and a copy of the policy I called SS (on the 27^th, the first day they were open after the holiday) and reported it. Since I was able to use his expenses as part of his spend down, I was able to fax that and all of the account information to the number I was provided, so at least his SS would not be suspended until  they determined how much I had or did not have to pay back.

Not having heard a thing by January 25^th I called again. This time I was speaking with a man, who I was familiar with, not personally but via people that I know that have had to deal with him, so I was on guard. First, I explained about the appeals and that back on December 17^th I was told that the first situation was waived and has been promised a letter verifying that.

He went from zero to 100 and screamed “IT WAS NOT WAIVED!” – I began to panic (this is why I wanted a letter. I wanted it in writing). I explained again that I was told that it has been waived and that I would receive a letter stating that.

“IT WAS NOT WAIVED, IT WAS DISPOSED OF! IT WAS DETERMINED THAT IT WAS NOT A RESOURCE AND YOU DON’T GET A LETTER FOR THAT!” 

At this point, all I could think of was the Soup Nazi “NO SOUP FOR YOU!” but I remained calm, trying not to laugh and explained that this did not make any sense. If I had not called that day I would still be waiting for an appeal date. Why would they not send a letter notifying me that it was waived (there’s that word again).

“IT WAS NOT WAIVED AND YOU DON’T GET A LETTER FOR THAT”.

If someone told me this story, I would definitely think it was a joke or Alternative Facts, but it is not. He was acting as if it was somehow my fault that THEY were wrong and I was now being punished with “no letter for that”.

I repeated again that this did not make any sense and would it not be common practice to notify someone that the issue was “disposed of”?

One more time, he yelled that “YOU DON’T GET A LETTER FOR THAT! YOU WERE GIVEN THE WRONG INFORMATION! Since he seemed incapable of talking to me without yelling at me, I asked for a supervisor. He put me on hold and instead of a supervisor, he came back and said I would be getting a letter for my records.

Next I had to ask him about issue #2. Had anyone received the faxed information regarding that second insurance issue? I just wanted to be sure that someone received it because it was reported and I did not want them to suspend his benefits because they had not received the information with the spend down. Surprisingly enough, there was no more screaming.

He did not see anything in the records, but he said he would transfer me to the person that would have received it. Of course, I got voice mail and to my dismay it was the same caseworker that I had to deal with during the earlier issue.

Did I get a call back? No I did not.

After a week, I called back and left another message. This time she did call me back and – Oh, how nice and sweet she was! I am sure she was hoping that I would not bring up the first incident.

She told me that she did receive the information but she had not had a chance to go through it. I would be notified if she had any questions or if there would be any benefits to pay back.

Being that it is now the beginning of March and they only took 4 days to charge me $12,000.00 the first time, I am cautiously optimistic. Because the account was something that I had no knowledge of and I reported it, spent it down and got them all of the information they required within days of receiving it (not to mention the fact that I already had to spend $2600.00 of my own money due to their “error”), I am hoping that the spend down was enough and this would be the end of it.

– Cautiously optimistic.

I have done everything I was required to do and I verified that someone had received everything, so I am done! I will not be calling anyone to check on the status and if, in fact this is the end of it, there is probably not going to be a “Letter for that” either.

Oh, and I did finally receive the promised letter about the first incident.

“This letter is to inform you that your over-payment has been” ….

Wait for it….

“WAIVED.”

Even though I was informed loudly that this had not been waived, but disposed of, they could not even be honest and put that in writing. They opted for  “WAIVED” so as not to admit any liability on their part at all.

***

FYI, Fortunately, the television I bought for him during the first spend-down, fell off his dresser (I bet that’s a sentence you’d never thought you would hear or read) so it had to be replaced. That and his monthly expenses made spending it down much faster. The new TV is mounted to the wall – the mount was also included in this spend-down.

****

The DAY after I finished writing this – yes, the very next day, I received a letter from Social Security – I will be required to payback one month (the Month of December) of his benefits to them. I wonder if they can just deduct it from that first $2600.00 that I was made to spend?? Oh, and just a little annoyance (if I opt to pay upfront) – “Please be sure to use the enclosed envelope to mail your payment back to us.”

There is no envelope, there never is ……….