[insert the dulcet sounds of Muzak hold music here]

TW: American Disability & Medicaid systems, medical neglect, discussions of surgery/post-op injury, and genocide.

You know how I was denied Medicaid for 2026 because of a perfect storm of events that most people would simply write off as personal laziness? Well, I'm writing this blog post to kill some time as I'm on hold with my County DHS to speak to someone about how to get the denial overturned.

First of all, I had to hang up and call back to start on the automated menu from scratch three times, because the terminology they use is so specific that it's very confusing for anyone who doesn't work with it regularly. I also had to go through two menus and two sub-menus to find where I could speak to a human being.

And when I finally connected (at 11:11am, it's 11:38 as I write this), I was caller number 36. I have no idea how many "specialists" they have on staff.

I have an appointment this afternoon. Not until after 4pm, but now I wonder if I have enough time for this call and my appointment both. Here I thought five hours would be plenty of time to handle this and head out for my appointment...

Starting next year, they've made putting in 20 hours per week of officially reported work or volunteer service a Medicaid qualification requirement. Are they planning on budgeting the staff to handle that? Because, at this point, they don't have the staff to handle the load of work they already have. And even if "official reporting" is handled online and by AI, they're going to need human troubleshooters for when something is inevitably fucked up by either human or robot. Especially if something as essential as peoples' health care is on the line if mandatory reporting gets fucked up for the smallest of reasons. They really thought adding another layer of difficulty to this system was a good idea?

I know you likely think I'm being a dramatic liberal nose ring person for using the word "genocide" about this, but I'm not a liberal, I have roseacea so no nose ring, and I am out here with both personal experience and actual numbers, so I'm just going to point out how wildly inaccessible and understaffed/underfunded the social supports for disabled people in America are (and that includes facilities and supports for disabled veterans - I'n not a veteran, but I see what they're experiencing at the VA hospitals, I see how this country treats its heroes - all bluster, no compassion), and I'm just going to go ahead and make people uncomfortable with the "genocide" word when discussing what I see and experience.

11:59am now. Still on hold.

Speaking of the Medicaid 2027 requirements... I've read them through, and I don't remember seeing anything about what happens if you can't make your 80 hours a month. Most part-time employees don't get PTO or a lot of PTO, they have to eat it if they get sick or have a family emergency. And volunteer positions don't have those kinds of deals at all, you're there or you're not, there's no "PTO" for volunteers. So, if your grandma is dying in Alberqurque, and you need to take a week off to be there, do you lose your Medicaid coverage? Are you expected to double your hours the next week to keep it? What if that's something that will flare the chronic Illness that has them on limited hours and Medicaid to begin with, so they need another week or two off to recover from the physical and emotional stress?

Before you "but exemptions for disabilities!!" me, I have had two separate government employed "employment experts" and two separate government employed "doctors" (one had no idea what "myleomalacia" was, and when I said the word, the look on her face made it clear she decided I was faking right then, before the exam even started) declare me fit for full-time employment. They have done this repeatedly as I was concurrently going through multiple spine surgeries and that spinal cord injury, as well as severely damaging the nerves in my dominant hand and injuring the wrist joint in a way that is growing a cyst that's obstructing the use of my hand/wrist, and getting a total hip joint replacement. Despite Failed Laminectomy Syndrome being on my medical chart along with that myleomalacia (bruising of the spinal cord caused by a compression injury), I have had multiple government employees tell me that my surgeries fixed all my problems and made me fit to work again, despite some of those surgeries not having even taken place yet let alone healed in a way to determine what I lost and what I regained or retained. Getting a disability exemption from Medicaid work requirements will be just as impossible as getting into the social security program.

I don't think this wasn't well thought out. I think it was extremely well thought out. I think they're trying to keep as many people uninsured and without access to health care as possible. And if they can take Medicaid away from the people already struggling as they're years, plural, sometimes many years into the disability application process, and have to earn their income the whole time like they already receive the disability check each month, even more will die before they get to their case, oopsie!

12:11pm now. I've officially been on hold for an hour, after taking a half-hour just to get to the point where I could be placed on hold.

Soooooo... how is everyone? What's new?

Break for some texting, and I'm back at 12:34pm. Still on hold. I have to bail on this at 3pm to get on the road for my appointment. They make me check in every 10 minutes to make sure I'm still on the line, but they won't tell me where I am in line now, or how many specialists are at their desks.

What do you bet I need to call back and do this all again tomorrow?

1:11pm. Two hours on hold now. 2.5 hours into the process. They WANT you to give up. Just go without healthcare, die if you must.

And I have the luxury of waiting around on hold. I don't have to run after a toddler, or get dinner on before picking the kids up from school. Or make it to a job where I can't have my phone on me or make personal calls outside of my lunch hour, like most front-facing and many office jobs nowadays. So, when are we supposed to handle our DHS business?

They answered my call at 1:25pm. To tell me to call another number. Now, at the number they gave me, I asked for help applying for Medicaid, they sent me to tech support to get into the state website to do the application myself. Only, the website is down. So, I'm done for the day at 1:40pm, I'm denied the accommodation I stayed on hold for two hours to ask for, and my issue is still in limbo, and needs to be revisited tomorrow.

Yep. Tune in tomorrow to see if the website actually works so I can get health coverage for another year...