Obstruction of Justice: Destruction of Character

Obstruction of Justice: Destruction of Character

Please note that I am copying a third party with this e-mail.

1. Social Security must be advised immediately that they have

(a) The amount on the check is significantly less than the amount stated in the letter I received less than one month ago

(b) My former representative payee misreported my income on his last statement

(c) In addition to misreporting my income, he checked the wrong box so he never told them that I am longer working and do not receive any either income

This is important for several reasons because my re-certification for food stamps and TennCare (Medicaid) is tomorrow and DHS uses the income reported to Social Security to determine my eligibility status. There is somewhat of d domino effect since my Section 8 payment was also changed effective 8/1/2008 based on this information, and as you are aware, my former case manager never mailed in any of the documents requested last March.

I have taken care of the subrogation claim, however, that does not minimize my level of frustration because I am DROWNING in paperwork. I have contacted several agencies to provide assistance, however I do not have the resources necessary to provide them with timely response. There is a very limited time allowed to request reconsideration or file an appeal.

I have done everything humanly possible to clean up the slack, however ant this point, I feel I have no other choice than to file a formal complaint so that my entire case is reviewed. The number of mistakes is so overwhelming that I simply do not have enough time to documents each and every one with the respective agency.

I also want to be clear that every time I have to call Social Security or DHS, it only compounds my cost of living expenses (40 cents per minute on the telephone -- a bill which is not even considered to be a justifiable expense) Most agencies do not include self-addressed stamped envelopes, and I can not afford the postage required to mail out all of the requested documentation (e.g., utility bills, medical bills, pay stubs, etc.)

Fortunately, a number of agencies will take online complaints. Unfortunately, my internet was interrupted for non-payment for several weeks and there is no funding resource or community agency that provides subsidized Internet access or free printer ink.

View all

Get your own

Transportation costs are ridiculous so going to the library is not an option. Neither is returning to work right now, since it would cost too much to get to the interview or provide official (expensive) copies of my graduate school transcripts that were oh, such a good investment!

That aside, I am not the most user friendly person right about now, so I have found it difficult to put on a happy face so I can work at McDonald's which pays more than Metro anyway.

View all

Get your own

The subrogation claim has been resolved but I just learned that my breast biopsy was not [pre-authorized and I was told by my INSURANCE CSR (the person who answers the phone) that I should not have the surgery that has already been scheduled at the Women's hospital for 8/21/2008 since they did not authorize the biopsy last month, and have not received a request prior authorization for the surgery that has already been scheduled for next week...

This was a lovely 54 minute conversation because he would not mail me copies of my EOBs or confirm that what, if any, requests have been submitted for payment since my last inquiry and change of address. He finally told me that to call the state (Tennessee) which I have already done several times, and they told me to call Social Security but it was already past business hours and I am not authorized to make changes to my file anyway.

I will try to be more specific later without going into too much detail, but unfortunately, that level of detail is required to file the necessary appeals. Ironic, huh? This apartment is like my own little cage, and I am just pathetic enough to run around in circles, hoping to find the much like a hamster wheel, rodent chasing in circles hoping to found my way out my way out before I run out air. If only I had finished my damn PhD, I would do my own case study or reality show on how far we will go to have nothing at all...

And even though my life is a living hell, I have almost learned how to enjoy the sheer irony of it all... for someone with OCD and post-traumatic stress, this is truly a ridiculous little experiment.

I will be in touch when I can. Unfortunately, each agency has different deadlines, and it takes a lot of energy and time to scan in, copy, or respond to each inquiry in writing, so I find myself running out of time since I cannot seem to get anything done unless I just do nothing at all.

I am becoming increasingly inspired to just burn every last document I own, throw away my keys and my cell phone and take Spotty some place where we can live off the land and ignore the fact that society has me chained to a computer screen that screen that does provide the basic necessities I need to live.

I have come this far, and I am becoming rather skilled and at expressing myself without needing an audience or the obsessive need to check every fact, throw, and typo for capitalization and perfection.

So for now I write. Maybe later, I will read, but if there is any justice left in this world, someday, I might actually live.

Good-bye for now. I need a break.

With love,

Your little sis.

Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.
Nashville, Tennessee
Reply to: elyssa.durant@columbia.edu

"You may not care how much I know, but you don't know how much I care."

--- On Mon, 8/11/08, Lauren Durant laurendurant@durantlaw.com wrote:

From: Lauren Durant laurendurant@durantlaw.com

Subject: s.s. check - attached

To: ed70@columbia.edu

Date: Monday, August 11, 2008, 5:05 PM

$515.50

COINTELPRO: DESTRUCTION OF EVIDENCE

via darknightdurant.blogspot.com

at what cost?

Posted via email from ElyssaD's Posterous

The Powers That Beat: Close the Digital Divide: I'm still in the yellow

via thepowersthatbeat.blogspot.com

take your best shot... i guarantee i've had worse.... without apology... video to follow

http://thepowersthatbeat.blogspot.com/2010/08/close-digital-divide-im-still-y...

Posted via email from ElyssaD's Posterous

Work to Welfare: The Hardest Job I Never Had

Work to Welfare: The Hardest Job I Never Had

By Elyssa Durant - Feb 11, 2009 4:22:26 AM ET

Comments |  Mail to a Friend  |  Report to Admin

I remember how difficult it was for me to obtain benefits when I first applied several years ago. I am deeply concerned about how the most recent decision to eradicate yet another class of TennCare / Medicaid recipients (the Daniels class made up of SSI recipients by way of a pending federal waiver) will affect the poor and disabled residents in Tennessee. Without my current level of benefits, I simply do not function.

 

Before my benefits were stabilized, learning to navigate the system consumed every waking moment of my life. I was unable to work or attend school on any substantial level and I am frightened to see at might happen if I were to stray from my established, stabilized, treatment plan. If I lose my benefits, will I still be able to work? To function? To be productive?

 

Any new public program requires careful planning if it is to be effective. Recent discussions have not focused on the true impact these changes will have on the "street-level."

 

Has anyone asked recipients how they feel the new program (safety- net) should be designed, implemented, or evaluated? How will this impact the community and other social service or welfare agencies??? I want access, quality, and outcomes. I want... I want... I want!!!

 

The massive number of people being dis-enrolled or limited in their access to medical care and other social services will no doubt create significant anxiety, confusion, and chaos for everyone involved in the social service and health care industries.

 

I remember when Mr. Brian Lapps was somewhere very high up on the corporate TennCare ladder in 1999 when they adjusted the prescription formulary over Memorial Day in 1999. I see Mr. Lapps quite frequently since he now works at the local gas station down the street from where I live.

 

To this day, he insists that cell phones and TennCare are somehow contraindicated. Perhaps he knows nothing of the population he claims to know just all-too-well... housing conditions that may or may not have electricity, broken families-some riddled with community violence and domestic disturbances. In the hood, your cell phone is your very best friend. 9-1-1.

 

These people plagued by domestic violence and community instability makes a cell phone the only logical option. How can you find a job with out a phone? How can you find a home with out a job? Yet even 6 years later, Mr. Lapps uses cellular phones as an example how the TennCare program is being abused by lazy, cheap, and unscrupulous second hand citizens who are just shiftless lazy bums waiting around for their next free hand-out.

 

Anyone who has EVER applied for or relied upon any kind of government subsidy to have their basic needs met, e.g., food, shelter, medical care, dental treatment, etc... let me personally assure you that there has never been a single time where I felt I was "pulling one over" on the government. I am not just one of the poor saps who believed what they told me they in school, I bought it hook, line, and sinker for the mere price of $179,982.00 and not a shred of financial security to show for it.

 

Even after consolidating my student loans, the interest alone is $10 less than my monthly income from social security.

 

Tennesseee is in the process of applying for yet ANOTHER federal waiver to eliminate the "Daniels" class of Medicaid recipients-- the poorest and sickest of all. SSI Recipients. Can you live on $623.00 / month? Can anyone?

 

So what happens now that the state of Tennessee will begin to cut off social security recipients from TennCare? I honestly do not think I can survive yet another re-certification process-- God knows the first one almost killed me. After three years of appeals, my condition had deteriorated so severely that I was forced to drop out of school, lost my home, lost my sanity, and lost hope. In short-- I lost my dignity and my belief in the social welfare system.

 

By the time my benefits were approved, I had already checked myself in to NYU Psych Ward because simply could not cope with the reality of what my life I had become. I weighed 94 pounds and suffered in excruciating pain that has only gotten worse with time. My extremities were ice cold, and my hands were numb since I went without medical treatment for the spinal injury that was first discovered when I was 22.

 

I am now 36 years old. My spinal cord is now damaged from years of delayed, sub-standard medical treatment. I owe the federal government $179,982.00 in student loans and when I am able to work, I make $10.46 / hour as a substitute teacher in an urban school district. That job comes with no security and no benefits. It does however offer the flexibility I need to receive the bi-monthly epidural injections and other procedures necessary to manage my pain and alleviate the numbness I feel because of the damage to my nerves. And even though I cannot afford the gas money to get my appointments, pay for all of my medication, or even to get back and forth to work, it does allow me a few weeks of mobility so I can drive, use my mouse or hold a pen.

 

I have an advanced master's degree from an Ivy League Institution. I am 12 credits shy of a PhD in public policy. And despite maintaining a 3.83 grade point average while completing an advanced masters in social and educational policy at an, "Ivy League" institution; a 3.2 GPA during the 3 years I spent working on my doctorate at a not-quite-so-prestigious Graduate School; The Powers That Beat in that damn Ivory Tower don't will not grant me any leniency by extending the amount or time permitted to complete my degree-- a rule that was changed while I was on a formal leave of absence tending to my health (and my Medicaid appeals!). Not only did they decide 8 years was the rule instead of the 10 it had been previously, I was also told that I could not even transfer the credits I had earned toward a different degree towards another program at the same institution. It has been just over ten years since I first enrolled. What a mistake that was!

 

The "Harvard of the South" no longer offerers the degree to which I was admitted-- and enrolled so they actually suggested that I pay for a 3rd application to the school (I was admitted into two degrees-- the MPP as well as the PhD program in a separate college) requiring two independent applications, fees, transcripts, test scores, even way back when I was still considered a promising candidate. Now "they" think it is reasonable to ask that I do it all over again??? It goes without saying that I do not have the financial resources available to finish my last semester, take the GREs or GMATs one more time, or even the money to release my transcripts from the Graduate School into any other program at the same University, I guess I am just shit out of luck.

 

To be clear, WE ARE ALL PAYING for that student debt because I can assure you that their endowment is far greater than any income or earning potential I have given my current financial status and student loan debt! To be clear, YOU ARE ALL PAYING to keep me on Welfare. Yes, all of us are paying some price..... We I want to work. I want to be productive. I want to be a part of something greater than myself. I want to share what I've learned.

 

So throughout the years I struggled to stay in school, believing somehow that social justice would prevail, and my heart and dedication towards the greater good would show through to whomever, wherever, or whatever that could make my degree worth while-- the Medicaid and disability applications managed to take front seat. So as I filed appeal after appeal after appeal, I managed to acquire well over 1/4 million (yes-- MILLION) dollars in debt due to uninsured medical expenses and student loans. Despite having 3 Major Medical insurance policies, I still went bankrupt applying for Medicaid.  Morally Bankrupt. 

 

My life will never be the same. My heart will never be the same. I want to pay my bills on time. I want to get off welfare, but no one ever taught me how to be poor.

 

So after all this-- now I face losing my healthcare once again? Where is the safety net? Where is the American Dream that I so diligently chased after for so many years? What was the point spending so much on an education that will never be utilized? I understand the how; I just don't understand why.

 

Maybe one of these days Vanderbilt University or and the Department of Education will realize it might just be cheaper to hire me that harass me, because unless I find a real paying job soon, their collections department will no longer be able to reach me on that extravagant lifeline my friend, Brian Lapps, refers to as a luxury.

 

If anyone on your staff would like to "trade places" with me for one month-I will gladly assume his/her responsibilities for that position if you can find a writer who is willing to endure and write about the reality of social services in our fine state. I do not want a paycheck from your organization; I just want the opportunity to put the myth of freeloading welfare mother s to rest. Live in my shoes for 30 days. Can you find the out? Can you balance my budget and make it work? Can you get the bill collectors of my back? Can you afford Internet service to file state job applications and apply for services online? Can you maintain pride and dignity without feeling the least bit sorry for yourself and the choices you have made?

 

When I go to the pharmacy, I am humiliated that I do not have the $3.00 necessary for the co-pay on my covered TennCare prescriptions. At least when it was $40 dollars, I was not so damn embarrassed by my lack of funds.

Remind me again why I went to school. Remind me once more why I bother to speak out. Then remind me right now that that there is somebody listening. I cannot be the only one who actually gives a crap. My contact information is listed below.

 

Elyssa Durant, Ed.M.

Nashville, Tennessee

elyssa.durant@columbia.edu

(Former doctoral student in public polic

Reader Comments	Comments RSS
Comments are closed for this post.

Understand  |  Report to Admin

By Karen-Missouri Ozarks for Obama!, Feb 11, 2009 at 7:48:28 AM ET (Updated: Feb 11, 2009 at 7:48:28 AM ET )

Your writing is very good. Have you considered writing articles and books?

I will turn 60 this summer, worked very hard to put myself through college and support my kids (ex skipped out and never paid the $52,000plus he owed for child support and of course the system never collected it either). I worked in accounting then lacked 2 courses of having my Master's but did teach for 13 years (both private post-secondary and high school).

A heart attack and 2 stents later and Type 2 diabetes...I too wonder sometimes why I spent so much on college. I now work from home with crafts, thinking about doing some writing (I did win 3rd place on a Christian writing website...that's encouraging), and live on a very tiny tiny tiny pension. Even with good insurance, I no longer take medicines or go to doctor's and for the past 3 years have been just doing all the "natural" ways...diet, less stress in my life, etc. Even with good insurance, medicines were over $100 a month...ridiculous! I have no other choice but to live life to its fullest and spend time with grandkids and pray for the best and a relatively longer life.

I ache not so much for me, but for my kids and grandchildren who have to really, really struggle right now.

I had to deal with the awful Nixon wage/price controls where the only way to get a raise was quit and get a new higher-paying one. I dealt with Reagan's so-called "trickle down" economics" and watched the greed of corporate CEOs take over this country (and we've never recovered from either president's ill-conceived policies). Notice how the Republicans always bring up Reagan but never Nixon's failed policies!

Anyway, thanks for your writing...I understand what you're talking about.

Re: Understand  |  Report to Admin

By Elyssa Durant, Feb 11, 2009 at 5:14:18 PM ET (Updated: Feb 11, 2009 at 5:14:18 PM ET )

Oh my god... thank you so much... I'm working on that right now, but I have not figured out a way to make any money doing that.

But I'm a liberal, so I just give it away for free and hope for the best!

Comments like yours make it rewarding, and appreciate your kind words and encouragement. I definitely needed to hear that today!

There are so many of us looking for our place, I just hope we can find it together. To be continued...

Elyssa

via women.barackobama.com

Organizing for America | Elyssa Durant: Work to Welfare: The Hardest Job I Never Had

http://women.barackobama.com/page/community/post/elyssadurant/gGxh4R/commentary

Posted via email from ElyssaD's Posterous

Top Ten Tips for Livin Laid-Off: #10! [video]

via oddtodd.com

Top Ten Tips for Livin' Laid-Off: Here's #10!

i REFUSE TO BE MISERABLE TODAY AND CONTINUE GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS IN THIS BROKEN SYSTEM.

THE WORLD TELLS ME THAT I MUST SPEND EVERY WAKING MOMENT OF MY LIFE LOOKING FOR WORK.

WELL I TRIED THAT, AND LOOK IT FAR IT GOT ME... SO TODAY, I REFUSE TO BE MISERABLE [EVEN IF I AM]

THE POOR HOMELESS, DISABLED, AND UNEMPLOYED ARE HUMAN BEINGS AND DESERVE TO BE TREATED WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT FEELS TO BE "NOBODY"

I DESERVE A LITTLE BIT OF FREEDOM AND HAPINESS WHEN I CAN GET IT... SO FUCK OFF ASSHATS! I AM WOMAN HEAR ME PURR...

Bestest of good vibes to all job seekers! And to all seekers in general...

e

Posted via web from ElyssaD's Posterous