Income assistance and resources

[cheolkyu]

Hello all,

I'm new here and newly diagnosed HIV-positive. As you all know HIV is a life changer and I'm just getting started with making a plan to identify and manage all those changes. Unfortunately, I became HIV+ at the worst time possible. I'm currently in a foreign country (non-US), I have nearly nothing money-wise, I have yet to have my final appointment with the doctor about HIV and treatment which I can't afford here anyway, and my monthly income is only about $300-350 USD.

I will return to the US at the end of December/early January to rebuild a stable life and now a life that includes living with HIV. I have been very proactive with reading as many articles and forum posts as I can handle per day. I will continue to do so. I know about health and medical resources like Medicaid, Obamacare, ADAP, and Ryan White for low-income persons. I've seen numerous support groups which I look forward to joining, and also a lot of HIV or gay centers which may have services relevant to me. I've looked at housing resources which another great service that I hope I can take advantage of.

But there's just one thing that so far, the information is a bit slim on. And that is income assistance or income-related resources. I did read that certain persons, if they can prove their HIV symptoms disqualify them from any job, then they can get on SSDI. However, what can a person do, if anything, when they don't or can't qualify for SSDI? As soon as I get to America, a home, a job, and medical treatment are the 3 equally urgent items on my agenda. But they are not all going to happen at the same time.

So income is a big concern. How does a person eat or brush their teeth, or take of themselves to prevent needless Opportunistic Infection. A person must be able to afford basic hygiene if this is going to work. So, please share any info you might have with me. I would greatly appreciate having a look.

I will leave some facts about me because it might help with suggestions. And thank you all and poz.com for this excellent resource site for people living with HIV.

-Gay male
-38 years old
-HIV+ (first told by hospital doctor on Nov 5, no other details of my test results shared with me yet)
-San Jose, CA (my next temporary residence in the US although it is not confirmed yet)
-No treatment regimen yet
-No detailed blood or virus information yet (due on Nov 17 appt. with HIV doctor)
-Currently suffering numerous HIV-related symptoms, some very severe

[mecch]

An unbelieveable amount of stress in that situation.  You'recalm and collected in your  post so bravo for that, at least.   Welcome here.

Are you sticking to where you are at least until you get a good picture of the state of your health?
How is your access to medical care where you are?  Is it affordable and is the care good?
Are you homeless where you are?  Are you a legal resident where you are now?

Depending on some of these answers, is it possible that another option is staying where you are for awhile at least? 

[cheolkyu]

Hi mecch,
Thank you very much for your kind words and understanding. I truly am in an awful situation. To answer your questions. I will be here until I return to the US mostly because I haven't any money to do anything else. There are a lot of hospitals here and luckily a great one with good service to foreigners like me but without insurance and a good income, medical treatment anywhere is going to be expensive and so all of my free money went to paying hospital bills when we didn't know what this illness was. So affordable it is not, because of me. But travelers with good insurance will certainly find it reasonable. I'm not homeless yet and luckily I got sick toward the end of my stay here so rent has been paid already but I'm not a legal resident or citizen and I have no rights or benefits of people with that status.

So staying here is not going to be an option also due to the visa requirements (costs money to renew).

What I worry about the most is getting medical treatment and how long it might take me to do that. Once I get to the US, I plan to hit the ground running. If my friend still agrees to let me stay with him after I tell him I am now HIV+, then I need to:
1. Get a phone number
2. Get free or low cost public transportation card
3. Apply for Medicaid and all other medical assistance possible
4. Find an HIV doctor or specialist
5. Look for housing
6. Apply for jobs
7. Start an HIV regimen

Not necessarily in that order but starting an HIV regimen definitely has to come after applying for medical assistance and finding an experienced HIV doctor.

As a side note, I'm also an orphan so I don't have any family to rely on or who might temporarily offer living assistance. But this and my age (I'm about 40 years old) are also reasons why I'm fairly cool-headed about what I have to do. Nobody takes care of me except me. That's the way it's always been. It's an absolute crap existence but I don't make excuses because life isn't fair.

A lot depends on my only 2 friends, good and long-term friends. I've told one that I am HIV+ and he's been good to me although we haven't talked much about it because he is currently on vacation. And my other friend who is very busy but offered his guest room to me before the HIV stuff was known. My plan relies strongly on his offer of a room for me while I try to rebuild a life. BUT we haven't had a chance to discuss HIV because he's very busy right now with work. And he's married so his husband also needs to have a say. And I don't know his husband and I don't know how they will feel about it.

My plan is so delicate and there just isn't a lot of wiggle room to make changes to it. I hate that feeling because it means the whole thing passes or fails. So right now I feel mostly anxious and nervous and frustrated.

Although I'm a regular human being, and I have found time to cry about getting HIV and being so stupid and having to shoulder this burden when I've already got so many other problems going for me right now. But everyday I just to bury myself in the research of what options are available to me and try to uncover as much information and suggestions as I can.

But thanks for your reply. I'm a pretty steely, quiet loner type but I do appreciate knowing somebody is out there. I appreciate the response, mecch.
+ Attachments and other options

[Miss Philicia]

Probably what will happen, assuming your relocation is San Jose, is that you will need to locate an HIV clinic that provides medical services "regardless of ability to pay". Hopefully they will have case managers integrated on site or easily refer you to same close by, and they will assist you in first applying for Ryan White/ADAP. At first Ryan White will pay your medical services at the clinic while ADAP will cover necessary medications. The case manager might simultaneously have you apply for Medicaid, because if you qualify for that it will be your primary payer and Ryan White your secondary (by law Ryan White must be "payer of last resort").

They will not have you apply for SSDI unless you show up with multiple opportunistic infections because otherwise you would never be approved. Let's assume your testing shows respectable cd4 counts but the doctor decides you'd benefit from beginning HIV medications, then you'd stay on the coverage I outlined above while you begin to look for a full time job. Once you have a job, assuming it provides adequate private insurance, then you'll simply carry on like any other person. If the job doesn't provide adequate coverage then the case manager will in turn sort out what you need at that point.

The questions you ask are full of too many unknowns to give a proper answer, with too many outcomes.

Finally, housing is obviously a concern -- you have no family and only two friends, one which has a partner and isn't aware of your health situation. Anyone agreeing to house you must assume that it's possible this temporary situation could drag on for months and months, so they will making quite a committment. There's always the possibility that the case manager might find housing that you would qualify for but housing for HIV+ patients that are NOT on disability doesn't receive any priority generally.

Basically you are going to just have to wing it and attempt to minimize your anxiety levels during what will be a fraught process. Otherwise I'm not sure what you asking of us. Until you inform your potential roommate of your medical situation and secure a commitment from him to temporary live in his home there's not much anyone can say. Why are you procrastinating with broaching this subject with this person?

[cheolkyu]

Hi Miss Philicia,

Thanks for your input. First, to answer your question, I'm not procrastinating with telling my friend. He is very busy with his work and has been doing a lot of business travel which makes him very tired and puts him in different time zones. Currently I am on the other side of the world, so that is already a big time difference. For example, he contacted me last night, which was late morning for him, but it was almost midnight here and I had fallen asleep before then. I've told him I had something important to discuss with him for a while, but we just haven't had time to connect. I'd rather have the conversation while he is present than just sending a text and waiting for a response. Although if that's what it ends up having to be, then that how it will be.

I really appreciate your first paragraph as it kind of gives me an idea of how things work with the clinics and MediCal/ADAP/Ryan White. But one question, what is a case manager? I've heard that term a lot and it seems that they can often help with a number of things, not just medical. So who are these people? Are they connected to the medical field or some other organization? Do they represent your main contact for HIV care and management? Is a case manager a kind of social worker?

Also, although perhaps this is not news to many. My research did reveal a little bit more about the original question of income assistance.

SSDI can give money based on prior income and age if you can prove a disability.
SSI can give money based on proof of low-income and having a disability.

^However it seems to get these benefits as an HIV person, you need to be very, very sick with AIDS or have a combination of illnesses that takes away much of your physical or mental abilities. So, my impression is it seems rather hard.

Outside of the SS Office, I don't see much about income assistance. It seems very much that individuals are on their own with that. If you have low-income medical programs, I can see that it may be a challenge to maintain those programs and work. But, I'm guessing, if you qualify for a very good job with private insurance, it's probably the better way to go, granted you have fairly good health.

Bottom line from my research so far: There is no income assistance until you can prove a disability.

[Miss Philicia]

A case manager is exactly as it sounds -- they work in either an AIDS Service Organization or within an HIV clinic. They deal on a case by case basis with patients to handle/give advice on non-medical needs, so they will be the ones to assess your financial situation and discuss possible resolutions with you, which will be particular to the state of California. I live in Philadelphia, so I can't rightly say what a case manager in California will discuss with you in more than general terms.

But they will answer whatever questions you may have once you arrive in San Jose. I would not bother attempting to contact them before you arrive in an attempt to calm all of your "what if" scenarios, you'll need to go through intake, prove residency and what not before they are going to bother with you. That will be the one sticking point upon arrival, is you will need to prove residency for them to begin offering you assistance. But when I moved from NYC to Philadelphia 10 years ago that was not difficult, I just made sure that I set up a cellular phone contract in Philly instead of taking my NYC number down there -- that way you have billing in the form of a piece of paper with your name on it. You're going to need to come up with something before they will put you on Ryan White/ADAP. So I would attend to that the moment you arrive.

As I said before, I don't know why you are focusing on obtaining disability -- are you disabled? No. You won't get it so don't bother. You need to focus on finding employment.

[cheolkyu]

Thanks Miss, the part about proving residency is very helpful. I do plan to get a phone and a bank account. So I hope those 2 things will be enough.

By the way, I'm not focusing on disability. I'm focusing on income assistance as I only make $300-350 per month. I was wondering if there were any HIV-related help. As a non-HIV person, no there wouldn't be any such thing. But as I was doing my research I wanted to uncover every area that HIV benefits extend to. So what I wrote previously was just my findings and for the general benefit of someone happening to read this forum post as I have read many in my own research. I don't plan to go on disability. And that's not the option I want. But, I now know how it works and I know what qualifies. And I know the difference between SSDI and SSI which is good information for the possible future as well as when I start to meet and associate with other HIV persons. Perhaps someone out there doesn't know and I can inform them.

You've put some strong assertions into your posts as far as me being a procrastinator or being overly fixated on disability. But I just found out I'm HIV+ last week. And, I can imagine, similar to a lot of newly positive persons, I didn't know anything about how to live or manage life with this disease. I didn't know what benefits, options, and resources were available to me in my situation. So I may repeat some of what I learned here because maybe it will be helpful to someone who stumbles by. But ultimately, I'm just trying to get myself informed.

I'm telling you this because you are very helpful but some parts of your posts come with a bit of a sting. I don't know if you know that or are aware of it. But in each of my replies I feel as though I have to both thank you and defend against an untruth. And honestly, it's a little hard to keep thanking someone who helps and then judges you right after. So thank you for help because you did help me quite a lot. But I'm going to move on to other reading after this post.

Take good care and best to you and your health.

[zach]

cheolkyu

msp may sting, but everything said was on point. that kind of stuff, you really don't want someone gently bullshitting you do you?

one day, you may get the pleasure of zinging one back. not that i personally ever pulled it off, or seen it happen, or even heard reliable tales

but a boy can hope right?

[mecch]

 cheolkyu Im sorry you are facing these dating challenges.

First lets get one thing cleared up - did you get a Western Blot confirmation that you are HIV+?

Do you care to say what country you are in now and what you have been doing there?

Im asking so I can get a handle on your working life.

You have mentioned a few times 300/350 a week as income. That is something permanent, no matter where you live?  So you will have it in the US as well?

What is your occupation/profession.  In recent years, how have your earned your living to pay for living, as it were...   Obviously we can all see that nobody can live on 300 a month income in the USA so you are going to have to find a solution for that. So I'm wondering, checking, are you able to earn your own living, and doing what?

Don't take that as an insult. We don't know anything about you really.  And sometimes we have new members who have not worked for a living, so its possible in this forum.  So thats why Im checking.

[mecch]

cheolkyu Im sorry you are facing these dating challenges.

Just to clarify, I typed "daunting challenges" but autocorrect didnt like that word. 
I know you have much bigger issues than "dating"!