You Are In Crisis And You Are In The Middle

There is little for the middle class in an emergency. You make too much to qualify for government assistance. You are not rich, either. What do you do when a medical emergency strikes? It happened to me. Luckily, I've worked in a program eligibility and I have economics background.

"Quality rehabilitation is in short supply at a few major centres, and in the US, those lucky enough to gain entry have their length of stay curtailed by reimbursement criteria that limit the amount and duration of care. Instead, patients are subjected to what is called ‘medical necessity’ or the improvement standard, where ongoing rehabilitative care ceases to be provided if improvement is not demonstrated in a timly fashion." https://aeon.co/essays/thousands-of-patients-diagnosed-as-vegetative-are-actually-aware?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f3c11e932f-Daily_Newsletter_10_May_20165_10_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-f3c11e932f-68910097

I initially kept my work insurance under COBRA, and used the SSDI to pay the premium. COBRA is national. https://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq-consumer-cobra.HTML For the monthly payment you will need the whole SSDI/SSI check. Insurance is pretty steep. Any extra money can pay bills, rent, or other needed cost. Most bills are headed for collections now as the last payment was missed due to the incident. Pick what you need first and pay on that. Don't worry about bad credit as you are now in crisis mode. "Crisis" will be your answer if questioned later. There is no argument.

The person in need may have to live with a friend, loved one, or family member, if he or she is not hospitalized. "Caregiving" may be reimbursable. This will be important, some mileage will be reimbursed by Social Security. Get that pre-approved and in writing. The person would have to have Social Security.

The work insurance will pay more on surgeries and will probably offer needed therapy longer than the government minimum that is given in government insurance. Keep this work insurance as long as possible. This therapy after surgery is needed and is crucial for "come back." I could only keep my insurance a few months after my surgery. New rules would make it longer now.

...In the middle
But me and Cinderella
We put it all together
We can drive it home
With one headlight

Turn Off the Light

I have one way to start using that bad hand,  http://braininjuryknow.blogspot.com/2016/03/using-that-hand-again.html Piano wasn't for me, though. I wanted to turn my light off when I left my bedroom. My good arm is the left. The light switch is the right.

No need to restrain the good hand. Either retrain the bad, or turn around to use the good. I use a wheel chair. The light wasn't worth the trouble of turning the chair. So I put my bad arm up n let gravity take over. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done. It looks better now. I have control over that bad arm. The point is that I was using it.

So what if it didn't look good? It felt good.

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Choose an activity. This one chose me. You may have to restrain your good hand. Don't do anything fancy. Wear an oven mitt on your good hand.

Maybe you make your bed every day. Do the pillow with your bad hand. Either keep that mitt nearby, or concentrate on only using that hand. You can finish up the way you were doing, but you gave yourself some practical therapy. Formally, the therapy is called Occupational Therapy. Some figure it only to focus on the hands. It includes the use of equipment, also, in order to get a job done.