Fall/Winter Parents Using Public Assistance-Support Only! - Page 10

[freespirited]

Originally Posted by BJewels79

I have some questions again DH found out earlier this week that he'll be losing his job soon. No exact date, but around March sometime. He gets 8 weeks pay plus 2 weeks vacation pay after that. Beyond that it's unemployment unless he can find something faster. My question: I did the "what benefits may you qualify for" thingie on the Florida state website. It asks about assets. DH has a 401K, but obviously if we touch it, we'll be hit hard at tax time, so much so we can't afford to do that And it isn't all that large to begin with. DH also owns and is paying on his truck. We owe more than we could get out of it if he sold, plus he needs it to find a job and get to work. So with either of those assets it says we won't qualify for any assistance no food stamps, no medicaid for our kids or anything when he goes on UE. Does that sound right? I got medicaid for pregnant women with no issues as a secondary insurance, but we'll use it as primary soon until baby is born of course. But my other two children (ages 2 and 4) won't qualify for medicaid apparently, which I just can't understand If DH gets the max UE offered (which I expect) he'll be getting $1100 per month. If we let his truck go back and our credit cards go, then yeah, we could get by on it, but we really are hoping to avoid that. But should we apply anyway and see where things go? If we could just get medicaid for the boys I would be THRILLED! I hate to think of them not having insurance, not worried about DH and I we'll deal. There's no way we could afford private insurance once DHs is gone either. We own our home, so no payments there either (thankfully! the one thing we do have going for us).

It's probably not the 401k per se that is disqualifying you, but the fact that you have no mortgage or rent every month. I know that when my mortgage amount dropped due to prime rate dropping, my foodstamps dropped pretty much the same amount the mortgage went down. If you have a nice vehicle that doesn't help either. My husband drives a 25-year old beater tiny truck and the foodstamp folks tried to tell us it was a "classic" (lmao!), but lucklily it was gift from my father and still in his name so it didn't count against us, but it would have. Imagine. We couldn't sell it for $500, so something is wrong with their system. Anyway, have you done the calculations for once the baby is born? Maybe then you will qualify. If you own your home, can you take out a heloc to help out with your situation? I am not condoning debt, but that is what we did, and ironically, that extra heloc payment qualified us for some assistance ($250 in food stamps and medicaid for my kids), once the money ran out and we didn't have any other avenues, which is when we looked for govt assistance. G/L.

ETA: One more idea. Since you own your home and your husband still has a job for the moment, can you quickly apply for a heloc to pay off your credit card debt? You won't have any credit card debt, which welfare doesn't care about, and you will generate a second mortgage payment that will help you qualify for assistance. We tried to do this but didn't qualify because we already have a 50k heloc. The reason we struggle so much is our huge min cc payments. You won't get the heloc if your dh is unemployed tho, so better to do that before he loses his job. Your payments will be a lot less than your cc payments. Get the variable rate of you qualify, right now it's about 4%.

[BJewels79]

We live in a mobile home, so I'm pretty certain there'd be no way we could get a loan against it Plus I'd rather not chance our home to pay off the cards, KWIM? If push comes to shove, we can let the CCs go to collections. Hopefully, they'll find DH a job in a different place at his work. They are working towards that since he office was completely eliminated, so not exactly a *normal* layoff. But it sounds like there may be a couple of job options out there for him otherwise, if he can get hired. We are hoping he can before his severance pay ends at least.

[cwat]

Happy Sunday, all! Hope everyone is doing okay
Things here are about normal, I paid the rent (by the skin of my teeth) and I was able to by a couple of little presents for my two younger kids' birthdays (today & Monday) phew!!!!
I hope everyone who is having trouble finds an answer soon! Talk to everyone later.

__________________________________________________ _____________
single mama to: Amber 16yo, James 15yo, Sam 11yo-till 1/12/09, and Michaela 5yo.

[mammal_mama]

Hi, everyone! I don't have much to share, but it's great hearing from everyone, and also to see all the newbies! AlwaysByMySide, it's good to see you again.

[AlwaysByMySide]

Originally Posted by mammal_mama

AlwaysByMySide, it's good to see you again.

Hey! Someone I "know". Good to see you too!

As for my update...I finally got everything to our counselor, and we qualify for $97/month in food stamps. Not much, but I'll take what I can get at this point. (And there's only three of us, so I can stretch that pretty far.)

The kids qualify for Medicaid. I don't, for whatever reason. We qualify for "Families First", which is TN's version of welfare, ONLY if I work OUTSIDE the home 30+ hours a week. So, let's get this straight, all the work I put in at home isn't actually...work...apparently. (I own a business and work from home.)

SIGH.

The other issue I'm running into is the housing issue. My credit is good enough to buy a house, and my monthly payments would be lower than or equal to what rent is in this area, with a better house. (I'm having SUCH a hard time finding a decent place to put the kids and I without being in a bad neighborhood, or having to move out of the county/state.) But, of course, as soon as you own a house, that messes everything up as far as food stamps/welfare/whatever.

So it's a good news/bad news day...

[mammal_mama]

Originally Posted by AlwaysByMySide

But, of course, as soon as you own a house, that messes everything up as far as food stamps/welfare/whatever.

Is that true in Tennessee? It's not true here in Missouri! We're buying our home, and we currently get food stamps, WIC, Medicaid for our girls, and hosptital discounts for any medical care dh or I need.

The only way I think it could disqualify us, would be if we had our home paid off, because then we wouldn't have a monthly payment. We'd just have our home-insurance and however much we'd need to set aside each month to be able to pay taxes each year, which would be a lot less than a house-payment or rent.

[AlwaysByMySide]

Originally Posted by mammal_mama

Is that true in Tennessee? It's not true here in Missouri! We're buying our home, and we currently get food stamps, WIC, Medicaid for our girls, and hosptital discounts for any medical care dh or I need.

Unfortunately, at least from what the DHS counselor told me, it counts as an "asset", as do cars, burial plots, 401k, pretty much anything 'big'. I think if it's valued under $3,000, it doesn't count. But I do know that owning my car outright counted against me. The fact that I belong to a credit union, and have to have $25 in my bank account (because that's the minimum) even counted against me.

If it was as easy as picking up a phone and asking, I'd call DHS in the next state over (we're right on the TN/GA state line) and ask them what I'd be able to get there. That would make the decision to possibly move there a lot easier to make.

ETA: I just looked up the handbook for Families First in TN, and it says that self-employment DOES count as employment, and that houses are not supposed to be counted as an asset/resource. So I guess I will be calling my counselor tomorrow.

[amyamanda]

Looks like I'd better read some of the old threads here about food stamps. I have an appointment on Tuesday. DH got laid off and his last day is tomorrow, but we have not had income for a month already (his company gave him an IOU, but no idea when they will have the funds to pay it off). And we were told unemployment could take 4-6 weeks. Our emergency fund is going toward the mortgage during that time.

I'm curious to see if we qualify (for food stamps and other things) and for how much. We'll see. We already get WIC and the kids are on state health. I'm a little worried about bridging the gap between now and when we get our first unemployment check. If we can get food stamps for this month, even if unemployment puts us over the qualification threshold next month, it would be a help. Our pantry is pretty full, but we will need eggs at least.

[Pumpkin_Pie]

So, I had my appointment today with the Reach Up person (welfare), and got some good and bad news. The good news is that we qualify for a monthly grant to help make up the difference in what I am going to be making at my new job, but the bad news is that I won't qualify for assistance with getting my car fixed for nearly a month. *sigh* I have to wait for an appointment with yet another Reach Up worker, and I have to have been at my new job for at least two weeks before qualifying for for help with the car. There is no way I can afford to get it fixed (new brakes), so we will have to take the bus for now. It is an hour and a half each way on the bus, and Tuesdays I will be working a 10 hour shift, so it will be a 13 hour day with a toddler.

She did think that I would have no problem getting the assistance to help with the car repair, it is just a matter of jumping through the right hoops first. I asked if there was a way to expedite it, seeing as how my job is potentially at risk due to me not having a car, and she said, "no". I also will have to go to a "work readiness" class that will be 8 hours long on a day that I would normally have to be at work. : It is a class to help me to learn to fill out job applications, write a resume, go on interviews, etc so I can start searching for a job. I already have a freaking job..... I will be skipping a day of work that I will not be paid for, and I will have to pay for 8 hours of childcare to attend a class to learn to get a job when I already have one! GAH!!!!!! So frustrating!

One more bit of frustrating news. I learned today that I have qualified for their Reach Up program for the last year, actually, but I never applied for it. If I had, I would already have my car fixed, and it wouldn't be an issue. *sigh again*

It is so, so, so, so, so, hard living where I do without a car. Not impossible, but EXTREMELY isolating. It is regularly in the single digits and below zero at this point in the winter, so walking is absolutely not an option. I live on the absolute end of the bus line here, so in order to take a bus anywhere, I have to wait for it to get all the way out here, take it into the main bus station, and then transfer elsewhere. Hauling a toddler, a stroller, and a diaper bag pretty much makes carrying anything else with us impossible.

Sorry for the long ranty post. I realize I have it much better than many, many mamas, but I am just feeling so frustrated today.

[mammal_mama]

[ReadingMama]

Originally Posted by amyamanda

Looks like I'd better read some of the old threads here about food stamps. I have an appointment on Tuesday. DH got laid off and his last day is tomorrow, but we have not had income for a month already (his company gave him an IOU, but no idea when they will have the funds to pay it off). And we were told unemployment could take 4-6 weeks. Our emergency fund is going toward the mortgage during that time.

I'm curious to see if we qualify (for food stamps and other things) and for how much. We'll see. We already get WIC and the kids are on state health. I'm a little worried about bridging the gap between now and when we get our first unemployment check. If we can get food stamps for this month, even if unemployment puts us over the qualification threshold next month, it would be a help. Our pantry is pretty full, but we will need eggs at least.

Not sure how it works in your state, but in OK you can get emergency food stamps (fast track to food stamps) if you have less than $100 in the bank and if your monthly income is less than your mortgage or rent payment.

Medicaid Bummer for me today: I just got Medicaid that will be the secondary payer after Medicare (I get that for disability). It will save me $145 a month that I had been paying to get a Medicare supplement plan (those pay the 20% that Medicare doesn't pay.) However, no one at DHS told me that I had to check to see if all of my regular doctors take Medicaid before I go to any appointments. I was just told that Medicaid will take the place of my existing supplement. It WILL pay the 20%, but only to doctors who have a contract with Medicaid. I've had 4 or 5 appointment since the first of the month and I only found out today that I needed to see if they accept Medicaid beforehand. Now I will be billed for that 20% for the doctors I've seen who don't accept Medicaid. So I called the Medicaid helpline and was told that they couldn't tell me which doctors accept Medicaid because they're updating their records. Argh!

I wonder if universal health care will be like Medicaid.

[ReadingMama]

Originally Posted by AlwaysByMySide

Unfortunately, at least from what the DHS counselor told me, it counts as an "asset", as do cars, burial plots, 401k, pretty much anything 'big'. I think if it's valued under $3,000, it doesn't count. But I do know that owning my car outright counted against me. The fact that I belong to a credit union, and have to have $25 in my bank account (because that's the minimum) even counted against me.

.....
ETA: I just looked up the handbook for Families First in TN, and it says that self-employment DOES count as employment, and that houses are not supposed to be counted as an asset/resource. So I guess I will be calling my counselor tomorrow.

Yeah, my understanding is that your house is exempted from the assets that are counted.

[cwat]

Can someone tell me why the state sends you a notice that you need to fill out the paperwork to renew your FS & medical, then doesn't send you the application? Then you go get the application, fill it out, send it in with all the stuff that they want you to send in...
They then send you a form letter saying that you're missing somesuch paperwork and they are cancelling everything! You call your worker (FOR THREE DAYS STRAIGHT!) then when you finally get a hold of her she can't find any of the paperwork that you sent in!!!!! So, she sends you another application for you to fill out and you go down to the office and hand it to her yourself (by the way, you've been without FS AND medical for 2 weeks now) only to get a call (at work) from your worker telling you that you're STILL missing something that you know you know that you sent in TWICE.
She says she's going to go through the paperwork again, and hangs up. Calls back half an hour later, and says she found the paperwork I'm missing, but now I'm missing something else!?!?! Goes back through the paperwork finds it, tells me she's putting the paperwork in. Three days later, I finally get a letter from her saying that my FS and Medical are re-instated. Now I've been without FS for 3 weeks but FINALLY I now have my FS again.

__________________________________________________ _______________
proud single mama to: Amber 16yo, James 15yo, Sam 12 yo, and Michaela 5yo

[Pumpkin_Pie]

Originally Posted by cwat

Can someone tell me why the state sends you a notice that you need to fill out the paperwork to renew your FS & medical, then doesn't send you the application? Then you go get the application, fill it out, send it in with all the stuff that they want you to send in...
They then send you a form letter saying that you're missing somesuch paperwork and they are cancelling everything! You call your worker (FOR THREE DAYS STRAIGHT!) then when you finally get a hold of her she can't find any of the paperwork that you sent in!!!!! So, she sends you another application for you to fill out and you go down to the office and hand it to her yourself (by the way, you've been without FS AND medical for 2 weeks now) only to get a call (at work) from your worker telling you that you're STILL missing something that you know you know that you sent in TWICE.
She says she's going to go through the paperwork again, and hangs up. Calls back half an hour later, and says she found the paperwork I'm missing, but now I'm missing something else!?!?! Goes back through the paperwork finds it, tells me she's putting the paperwork in. Three days later, I finally get a letter from her saying that my FS and Medical are re-instated. Now I've been without FS for 3 weeks but FINALLY I now have my FS again.

__________________________________________________ _______________
proud single mama to: Amber 16yo, James 15yo, Sam 12 yo, and Michaela 5yo

Wait, do you have my worker???? Seriously, it seems like they are always losing paperwork. I now refuse to mail ANYTHING in. Even if it means schlepping my son on the bus in the cold and snow and marching up to the window myself, I always make sure I hand it in in person, get a copy of whatever it is with their date stamp on it, and make sure I see them put it in the mailbox of my worker. I just have lost too much paperwork, and had benefits cut off with no notice.

Now I want to know how on earth they can make appointments that they expect me to keep when they send me a notice in the mail and the appointment is either for that very day or the next. Sooooooooo frustrating....

I do realize they are all extremely overworked, but it is so hard to keep having to triple and quadruple check absolutely everything to make sure they can keep your case straight.

[Nitenites]

Originally Posted by Pumpkin_Pie

Now I want to know how on earth they can make appointments that they expect me to keep when they send me a notice in the mail and the appointment is either for that very day or the next. Sooooooooo frustrating....

My fave is when you get the notice for your appointment AFTER the appointment. That's always fun. So you call to reschedule, but (of course) voice mail picks up and no one ever returns your calls...

[Pumpkin_Pie]

Originally Posted by Nitenites

My fave is when you get the notice for your appointment AFTER the appointment. That's always fun. So you call to reschedule, but (of course) voice mail picks up and no one ever returns your calls...

Yep, I had that happen once. I called, and they said, "Well, we mailed it out to you 12 days ago, we can't control the mail system you know!" Ummmm.... I don't think it takes 12 days for a letter to go four miles down the road....

[rockportmidwife]

I've mentioned on here that my boys's Medicaid didn't get renewed in October like it was supposed to. For months, they have been telling me that the system showed my children to have it already even though they didn't. There was some glitch in the system that they couldn't seem to bypass. The last I had heard was about a month ago from a worker that basically said, "Don't call anymore. I'll call when it is fixed." Still nothing. So I get a notice two days ago saying that I needed to provide my due date yet again. Well, I did need to notify them that the baby was born so I called in and took care of that and asked about the other boys. Well apparently the worker got distracted and got the baby into the system, but never answered my question. So I have to call back. Each time I get sent to 2 different departments because it is something the main department can't handle. Well finally this worker did something that finally go it sent through 4 months later. They now have Medicaid retroactive to October. But the kicker is that my renewal is in 2 months again!!!! I swear they better get it right this time.

[Pumpkin_Pie]

I finally got some fabulous news today!!!!!!! I applied for childcare subsidy to help with my son's tuition at the preschool that I will be working at, and it is only going to be a dollar a week that I actually owe! I almost fell out of my chair, and then I started giggling at them "making" me pay a dollar a week. They have this paragraph on the award letter stating that if I don't pay my share, my provider may drop my child from care, blah, blah, blah. I realize it is a legal-eze clause put in there for everyone, but I think I am going to be able to swing a buck a week.

[happyhats]

Well, I have good news and frustrating news, but that's the way of life. The good news is that we have had a major increase on our food stamps. Now we have more food choices, and we can stock up on formula and the like. The other good news, unrelated to public aid but nonetheless, is that my hubby has a job interview on Monday that sounds promising. Once we find out what's what we'll have to have a discussion, but I'm keeping happy about the prospect.

I'm frustrated however about trying to babysit through the state for my sisters children. I have to get fingerprinted, pay for an FBI background, and get a tb test before I can watch them. My husband has to get a background check as well even though he's not being paid. When it's all said and done I'm looking at about a hundred dollars coming out of my pocket before approval, which I obviously cannot afford right now. Depending on how much of a tax refund we get back I'll be doing all of of this in February. Also, I cannot find any answers on how much I'll be paid for the job, which is a pain as well.

[cwat]

I swear the hoops they make us jump through to get assistance are absolutely ridiculous
PumpkinPie, I just got a new worker (again). My previous one was cool, she knew what she was doing and I didn't need to call her every other day to make sure that she put in whatever paperwork was needed, but apparently the powers that be decided they needed her in the "Main Office" so she was promoted. (figures) So now I have a newbie (ohjoy) who "sort of" knows what she's doing but is VERY SLOW!
Peace and love to everyone, hope this is a good week for everyone (fingerscrossed)
__________________________________________________ ___________
proud single mama to: Amber 16yo(eek), James 15yo, Sam 12yo, and Michaela 5yo. :