The Other Blogger... Jennifer Lewis

Here I am! Sorry it took so long to get here.

I figured it was high time I described what it is I'll be doing here. Considering the goal of this blog is to get information out there for those of us who require assistance to get by in life I figured a brief description of my needs might be appropriate. Don't worry, I won't get too specific... lol! Seriously though, I currently live with my parents, but in the past I have lived with roomates and a boyfriend. I have four Independent Home Health Aides who meet all of my physical needs. They do things ranging from personal care, to basic housekeeping, to turning me throughout the night. While my parents do assist me at times, ultimately, my aides are the ones who do the bulk of the work.

Also, I do work outside of the house, and I do have a modified van that I can drive myself. I will provide information about all of that in another blog. The reason I bring up the fact that I work is that it has recently created a complication with my attendant care, which is provided through a program associated with Medicaid here in Ohio called Waiver IV. This program is designed for individuals who are too disabled to get the basic care provided by Medicaid in the Core Benefit Package which provides up to 14 hours of care per week. Here is an pretty good link describing the differences in the various programs provided by Medicaid:

http://www.odjfs.state.oh.us/forms/file.asp?id=49362

Because I work, the State of Ohio is requiring me to start paying for my care, which works out to approximately $1200 a month. I only make approximately $1200 per month after taxes. Needless to say, it isn't really possible to pay this money. I have appealed it, and I am awaiting the results. If they still require me to pay it, I will appeal it again.

While all of this does sound quite bad, I do have a light at the end of the tunnel. In April, a "Buy-In" program is supposed to begin; however, there was notification that the program COULD be delayed another 180 days from January 24th, 2008 (surprise, surprise...). The "Buy-In" (A.K.A. the MBI-WD program) will make it so that those of us who work will not be required to pay anything for our personal care unless we make over a certain amount. I need to do a little more research on this aspect before I give any definitive amounts, but I will get back with you on this. In the meantime, I did come across these addresses as a possible sources of information for those of you who might be interested:

For Ohio specific inquiries:

Ohio Job & Family Services
30 East Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215-3414
(the State Medicaid Director is John Corlett)

For general Medicaid/Medicare inquiries:

Department of Health & Human Services
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
233 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 600
Chicago, Illinois 60601-5519
(I don't know the contact person in this case)

I've never contacted these departments myself, but I plan on doing so ASAP. I'll let you know what I learn.

In any event, I'm glad to meet you all! I hope Janice and I can be of help to you. Just let us know if you have any questions and if we don't know the answer we'll do our best to find out for you.