letter to my elected official

In January of this year I was feeling a bit desperate about my current financial situation. A friend suggested that I write a letter to my elected official. Not knowing which one would be the best to address my issues, I sent it to all I could think of, including the whitehouse, the governor, the vice-president's office, my senator, my congressman, and my assemblymember.

That was in January. It is now March. To date, not a single response.


"Immediate assitance needed - Family in Need

What medical programs or financial assistance is available for working families?

I desperately need help finding whatever financial assistance is available to me. I can no longer afford my prescription medicines to treat my disease and our home is in foreclosure! My husband is self employed and brings home less than $50,000 a year. We do not have any health benefits or medical coverage.

I have Parkinson’s Disease and am permanently disabled and cannot work. I am not illegible for Social Security Disability as I don’t have enough service credit years. The requirement is 5 service credit years and I have just over 4 service credit years. I only worked in the public sector a short time before I went to work for a city government. I worked for the City of (name removed) for 14 years and accumulated retirement benefits with CalPERS. I am not illegible for Disability Retirement with CalPERS as I left the work force to raise children. I was diagnosed with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease after my 2nd child was born. I was never able to return to work. I receive no monies or financial assistance at all for medical expenses, or anything else. I have spent the past 4 years applying and re-applying for SSA and SSI.

I spent the entire summer last year going to the County Social Services in (city name omitted) trying to apply for medical coverage. It took 5 months to find out that my family was not illegible for Medi-cal. Because I am disabled I was told I would be covered but have a monthly $1,950 share of cost that I’d have to meet first. My medicines cost over $1,500 a month, which I no longer can afford.

Because my husband has to care for me during my episodes and for our young children he is not able to work more hours outside of the home. My husband makes about $50,000 a year and it is no longer enough to pay for our mortgage, our medical bills, and support us. We are 4 month’s behind in our mortgage and are in foreclosure. The stress of caring for me coupled with our financial situation has caused my husband’s heath to deteriorate as well. He is at high risk for a heart attack. His high blood pressure sent him to the hospital last year. We haven’t been able to pay for that bill either. My husband doesn’t have the funds for a new C-Pap breathing machine that he needs to treat his Sleep Apnea. What medical or financial assistance programs are available to us? We keep getting told that our income is too high every time I apply for something.

Please help!"