Bureaucracy

This is an actual letter that I wrote, have copies of, and am putting into the mail this afternoon. Luuuuuuuuuuuuucyyyyy, you got some 'splainin to do! Can y'all tell I was beside myself, or did I not make that clear?


Wednesday, June 3, 2009

RE: Case # 4258481

To Whom It May Concern:

You people are a joke! I am absolutely furious that y'all are playing fast and loose with my child's medical coverage.

First of all, if you hadn't lost the RENEWAL paperwork I sent off in FEBRUARY to the address on the pre-printed envelope to Austin, my son would never have stopped being covered in the first place. Sure glad my husband was laid off so that I had to go down and file for food stamps, otherwise I’d never have known that my two year old was no longer insured, nor would I know that you’d relocated this department to Midland. Way to keep people informed.

Secondly, my name is Aria P DOUTHAT, not Dauthat, get it right and maybe you'll find a record of us in your system. I write my name in block handwriting when I do government forms, so this lets me know right away that y’all can’t be bothered taking the time to do your job properly. As a former employee of the State of California, I know for dead certain, that y’all are supposed to check over your work before you move on to the next case. You’re not, and my child is suffering for it.

Thirdly, I only received this letter from you on Monday, June 1, 2009, and yet this stinking thing says that if it's not returned by 10 days from the date of this letter... which, by the way, would have been Monday, June 1, 2009 my claim will be denied. You guys are combining the worst of government bureaucracy and private insurance 'don't give a damn'. I am already expecting now to be denied, and I will have to drive the 30 miles, back to the welfare office in Wharton in order to pick up another form so that I can REAPPLY AGAIN. I will be sending a copy of this letter with my NEW APPLICATION along with all the other forms you need, just like I did when I sent in the renewal to Austin, and the original (second set for me) paperwork to your Midland office. I’m also sending this back to YOU, Mister or Miss Caseworker for Case # 4258481, because you ticked me off to no end and I’m telling you to quit wasting government money sitting on your dead ass denying claims in between your ten-cup-a-day coffee habit and your twenty-day-behind caseload. We are people, not just forms and you are getting paid to do a job. Do It.

And lastly, I’ve been dealing with you jokers long enough to know what to send with my paperwork, so you obviously LOST the income verification, and are putting it back on me since you are incompetent. And let me say a little bit about the income verification; what the hell else am I supposed to send you? My husband has been laid off. Unemployment now issues credit cards, not checks, so I DO NOT HAVE A CHECK STUB TO SEND. I sent the only thing we have with any amounts on it, and that is a Texas Workforce Commission Statement of Wages and Potential Benefits Amounts. This form shows what the payout per week will be. However, unemployment being a government agency, pays out every TWO weeks, just to confuse people such as yourself who are trying to calculate the amounts awarded. Obviously, math is not your strong suit, so I will do it for you. $392 per week actually pays out at a rate of $784.00 every two weeks. We have taxes coming out of that, but for your purposes, you don’t care. That gives us a grand total of $1568.00 per month (less taxes) for a family of three. I have enclosed a copy of the above mentioned Texas Workforce Commission Wages form for your verification needs. If this does not suit your needs, then I suggest that someone in the Texas Health and Human Services Commission makes a stinking phone call to the Texas Workforce Commission and they call a truce so that people in our situation (I’m positive these numbers are growing as lay-off’s continue to climb in Texas) can get the medical help they need for their children. I won’t even go into what total crap it is that an adult needs to have a household income of no more than $251 PER MONTH to qualify. That’s why I don’t even try for myself, even though I do have medical problems, as does my husband. I guess you’ll finally shell out some money when we both die off from lack of medical care, and then y’all will be forced to make him a ward of the state. I bet you pay foster families more than $251 per child per month. Would’ve been cheaper to just give the natural parents medical so they could stay alive and raise their own child, wouldn’t it? I won't even go into what a slap in the face it is to only qualify for $26.00 per month in food stamps. When you're down and out and doing the best you can for your family despite the state not wanting to help you, you'll take whatever you can get.

So, DO WE QUALIFY NOW, OR ARE YOU GOING TO FIND SOME REASON TO DENY THIS SO YOU CAN GET BACK TO YOUR COFFEE BREAK? (this was originally in the letter, but I took it out.)

Sincerely, Fed-up Texas Citizen,
ARIA P DOUTHAT (in all caps just in case you still have my name misspelled)
Case # 4258481

PS. I’m blogging this letter, emailing it to some news outlets, as well as sending a copy to my senator and the Governor’s office. I also just found out that Barack Obama actually reads and responds to 10 citizen letters per day, I think I’ll send him a copy too.


... and yes, I did print out copies to send off to all those people and I'm emailing it to the news outlets when I get back from the post office. Pretty sure I'm still getting denied though... *totallyinnocentlook*

But hey, in all seriousness, if anyone knows about Digg or Yahoo's Buzz, would y'all do something with this. This kind of government disregard for it's people has to stop. I know I sound angry, but at this point, I believe it's called for. What do you think?