October 2004 Newsletter
Volume 4, Number 2
Working Healthy: A Consumer Advocate's Viewpoint
By Tom Ward, Working Healthy Enrollee, Leavenworth
As many of you reading this probably already know, anyone with a chronic illness,
mental or physical, receiving SSI or SSDI, generally lives at or below the
poverty level. Medications are often expensive, some not even covered under
the Medicaid co-pay, and we often choose to do without one or more of our medications
so we can put food on the table or pay utilities and rent.
The prospect of trying to return to work, even part-time, is both stressful
and frightening. One wonders if they will risk losing their SSI, SSDI, or
any medical
benefits. Living in poverty is hard enough, and becoming poorer by working is
hardly an incentive to even try. What if acute illness strikes, or chronic illness
reoccurs? The catastrophic financial liability can cut off access to medical
treatment entirely because of debt load. Let's not forget the other potential
consequences: divorce, homelessness, substance abuse, criminal behavior, bankruptcy,
and even suicide, that cause personal tragedies that may result from failure
to maintain one's health and financial stability. All these create more problems
for society as well.
There is absolutely no way I could have returned to full-time work, using trial
work months (you get only 9 trial work months in your lifetime), and losing my
SSDI entirely after they were used up. Twenty years of chronic illness have proven
I may last 6 months, or a year or two, before acute symptoms recur working full
time, and with an intermittent work history, it's difficult to find a job with
medical benefits. I would then have to go through the entire disability determination
process again, survive another 3 or 4 years under extreme poverty again, and
live through hopelessness again. Thousands of other Kansans are in the same situation.
Working Healthy has given hope to those of us who wish to work again, contribute
to the common good, and return to some semblance of normal life. With Working
Healthy, I can put my full efforts into my work without those fears hanging over
my head. (I'm an activist and advocate in the Mental Health Consumer Recovery
Movement, and part-time director of a non-profit organization that serves adults
with severe and persistent mental illness.) Now I simply pay my premium, and
go on with as productive a life as I can make of it. Only two of my medications
are covered, but that is still a big help, and I can see my doctors regularly
again. Imagine my relief knowing that if I have to be hospitalized, Medicaid
will supplement my Medicare and reduce my personal financial responsibility for
medical bills. If you've ever run up thousands or tens of thousands of dollars
in uninsured medical bills, with no means to pay them, you know how devastating
this can be.
As many of us in the Kansas Recovery Movement know, Kansas is in the forefront
across the country in implementing innovative, successful programs to promote
fulfilling and productive lives for mental health consumers in all stages of
the recovery process. Working Healthy is one more example of the State of Kansas's
commitment to thinking big picture and long-term solutions instead of a band-aid
approach of short-term fixes.
A Working Healthy Refresher Course
The Working Healthy program recently completed its second year of operation.
Working Healthy is a work incentive program that allows Kansans with disabilities
to work and get or maintain Medicaid coverage. Benefits of the program include:
• All of the health services and coverage available through Kansas Medicaid;
• The opportunity to earn more without the risk of losing health care coverage;
• Higher asset and income eligibility; and
• Increased personal and financial independence.
Working Healthy is not a job placement service, but program staff can help people
identify resources in their communities to assist in the job search process.
For more information please call 1-800-449-1439 or visit www.workinghealthy.org
Benefits Specialist Corner
This issue features Working Healthy Benefits Specialist Norm White from the
Lawrence SRS Office in the Kansas City area. Norm can be contacted by phone
at (785) 832-3711
or by E-mail at LNBW@srskansas.org.
" Vote as if your life depends on it. Because it does." -Justin
Dart, disability rights advocate
Where does Democracy reside? In the family? At work? At school? At church?
In government?
Where is our vote counted on the matters of our lives? According to the Declaration
of Independence, all social institutions exist to protect our individual
rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. We are endowed with
these rights
by birth; they are not given by anyone and cannot be taken away by anyone.
No one has the "right" to deny our rights; they may have the "power" but
not the right.
Yet, our history is filled with struggles of people to gain their independence
and freedom. As people with disabilities, we have often been denied our rights
on the premise that we are not "real" or "whole" people.
Race-ism, sexism, age-ism, gender-ism, able-ism, etc. all require that people
be de-humanized in order to justify the denial of rights. It's OK because they
are not "as human" as those in power.
The denial of voting can remove us from the most basic participation in democracy.
Many have devoted much effort to making voting possible. The Big Tent Coalition
has registered many. SRS offers voter registration. We have advance voting,
absentee voting, accessible voting places, etc. Often my conversations about
politics
are met with: "I am not political," "My vote will not make a difference," etc.
Critical civil rights laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and
work incentives legislation like the Ticket to Work may never have been passed
if
all people with disabilities felt this way.
Where does Democracy reside? It lives or dies in our hearts and souls. Our
vote is the lifeblood of Democracy. When we keep Democracy alive, it keeps
us alive.
Let us not deny ourselves the vote.
The Power is with the People! Vote!
-Norm White, Working Healthy Benefits Specialist
Upcoming Outreach Activities
Benefits Specialists will conduct Working Healthy presentations and/or be available
to answer questions at the following venues:
• October 14, Homeless Coalition Summit, University of Kansas Memorial
Union in Lawrence, 9:00 am - 3:30 pm
• October 20, Pawnee Mental Health (1650 Hays Drive), Manhattan, 7-9 pm
• October 22-23, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) Conference
at the Holiday Inn in Olathe (101 W. 151st St.)
• October 29, Trabajando Juntos, Working Together with the Latino Workforce,
Kansas City Kansas Community College Performing Arts Center (7250 State Ave.),
8:00 am - 3:30 pm
• November 11, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill at the Central Kansas
Foundation in Salina (1805 South Ohio), 7-9 pm
For additional information regarding conferences and how you can attend, please
contact the Benefits Specialist Team Leader, Nancy Scott, by phone at 785-291-3461
or by E-mail at NAS@srskansas.org.
CONGRATULATIONS!
To Working Healthy Benefits Specialist Carrie Boettcher and her family on the
arrival of a new addition to their family this month. Carrie will be away
on maternity leave until January and Steve Curtis in Topeka will be filling
in as needed in the Emporia area. We wish Carrie and her family the best!
Who is the Benefits Specialist in Your Area?
The following is a list of coverage areas, based on the county in which you
live.
Western Area, Hays - Sherrie Sherman (785) 628-1066 ext. 268 HASAS@srskansas.org
Counties Served by Sherrie Sherman include:
Barber
Barton
Cheyenne
Clark
Comanche
Decatur
Edwards
Ellis
Finney
Ford
Gove
Graham
Grant
Gray
Greeley
Hamilton
Haskell
Hodgeman
Kearney
Kiowa
Lane
Logan
Meade
Morton
Ness
Norton
Osborne
Pawnee
Phillips
Pratt
Rawlins
Rooks
Rush
Russell
Scott
Seward
Sheridan
Sherman
Smith
Stafford
Stanton
Stevens
Thomas
Trego
Wallace
Wichita
Northeast Area, Manhattan - Judith Vargas (785) 776-4011 ext. 22 MJXV@srskansas.org
Counties Served by Judith Vargas include:
Atchison
Brown
Clay
Cloud
Dickinson
Doniphan
Ellsworth
Geary
Jackson
Jefferson
Jewell
Lincoln
Marshall
Mitchell
Nemaha
Ottawa
Pottawatomie
Republic
Riley
Saline
Wabaunsee
Washington
Kansas City Area, Lawrence - Norm White (785) 832-3711 LNBW@srskansas.org
Counties Served by Norm White include:
Douglas
Johnson
Leavenworth
Wyandotte
Topeka & Emporia Areas Steve Curtis (785) 296-5816 SXXC@srskansas.org
Counties Served by Steve Curtis include:
Butler
Chase
Chautauqua
Coffey
Cowley
Elk
Greenwood
Lyon
Marion
Morris
Osage
Shawnee
Wichita Area - Madeleine Anthony (316) 337-6427 WMZA@srskansas.org
Counties Served by Maddie Anthony include:
Harper
Harvey
Kingman
McPherson
Reno
Rice
Sedgwick
Sumner
Southeast Area, Pittsburg - Dan Hallacy (620) 231-5300 CDLH@srskansas.org
Counties Served by Dan Hallacy include:
Allen
Anderson
Bourbon
Cherokee
Crawford
Franklin
Labette
Linn
Miami
Montgomery
Neosho
Wilson
WoodsonYou can also reach us toll-free at (800) 449-1439
This newsletter and other Working Healthy information can be found online
at: http://www.workinghealthy.org
Working Healthy is published quarterly by the University of Kansas CRL, Division
of Adult Studies and in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Social and
Rehabilitation Services. Additional copies and copies in alternate formats
are available upon request by writing the University of Kansas Division of
Adult Studies, Attn: Noelle, 1122 West Campus Rd.. JRP Hall Rm. 517, Lawrence,
KS 66045, by phone (785) 864-7085, by email: pixie@ku.edu
KU Research Team:
Jean Hall, Principal Investigator
Noelle Kurth, Project Coordinator and Editor
Dan Cox, Graduate Research Assistant
SRS, Division of Health Care Policy:
Mary Ellen O'Brien Wright, Program Director
Nancy Scott, Benefits Specialist Team Leader