I am reminded of a comic strip I saw in the daily paper, where a dog chasing his tail finally caught it. The cartoon dog made a great exclamation of delight as a result. The following cell pictured him in exactly the same place, tail still in mouth, the Sun having gone down and the Moon high in the dark night sky. The “thought” bubble over his head said “NOW what do I do?”.
For more than a moment, I could relate to that after reading the highly anticipated correspondence from the bureaucrats regarding an SSI claim. Then again, I had a funny feeling about how it would turn out. The claim was made at the encouragement and suggestion of the medical insurance company through the Department of Public Welfare. They provided an advocate to expedite the process, in fact. The claim was put in just prior to the triple bypass procedure that ultimately and wisely I decided against.
By way of cross-indexing all all of my medical records against their criteria, it was determined that I was fully able to return to the work I had done most of my adult life. They were very clear about this as fact, further saying that my condition had improved to the point that I should be able to re-enter the work force at this age and continue where I left off as if nothing had happened.
What may be the classic irony and circular logic is this fact:
Had I undergone the bypass surgery, the probability of becoming qualified as disabled up to the normal SSA age of retirement claim would have been upward from 80% positive.
I am confident that this is a fact. Everyone I have spoken to that is familiar with the system backs this up. In my dealings with every involved agency over the past few years, I am not the least bit surprised. I’ll be most happy to be rid of it all finally and hopefully. If I can find a job at this point, that is.