Senior citizens, keep fighting to get the benefits you earned

Senior citizens, keep fighting to get the benefits you earned

I am writing this letter to make you aware of a situation that has frustrated and scared me as I have been exposed to it over the past several months. I am 81 years old, and I truly feel that the elderly are discriminated against by the Medicaid system and by employees who got their jobs by knowing someone in politics.

They give us elderly, who need assistance to survive, a hard time and the runaround so we get so discouraged we just give up despite the fact that many of us worked for years and paid into the Medicaid system.

I, however, will not give up, as I paid my dues for years. I am not asking for a handout. I worked for years, thought I was setting enough aside for my retirement years, and have sadly found out that not only was I misled to believe I would have enough to live on through my retirement years, now that I need help from the system I paid into for so many years, I hit a dead end at every turn.

I want the elderly who are applying for assistance to not give up because that is exactly what they want us to do. I contacted the Agency on Aging and they are wonderful, kind, and compassionate to my needs. Also, you can contact the Legal Aid Department of Mahoning County on how to proceed with an appeal. I even contacted state Sen. Joe Schiavoni’s office. The gentleman I spoke to was very kind, compassionate, and understanding of my plight and anger. He spoke with me and did what he could to help me.

I tried Job and Family Services and they are not available to assist. First they told me I was not eligible. Then some time later, they said I was eligible. Last, but not least, they drop the bomb telling me that I am not eligible. Recently, I just learned I will no longer have a “case worker,” it is now called a “blue team” or “green team.”

My original case worker was very kind.

While there are many organizations that can guide me in the right direction, the problem is that it is ultimately the Medicaid system that will decide whether or not to give me enough money to survive on, and it seems they are not willing to give me anywhere near what I would need to survive at even poverty level.

Rosemarie Grimaldi, Canfield