Please forgive me if I'm butting in on a private conversation, I don't mean to be rude. The discussion of SSI, disability and Medicare caught my attention since I have a little experience with it.
A number of years ago I was involved in a car accident which left my back broken in five places along with various other injuries. Took over a year of physical therapy, 6 days a week to walk semi-normally again but the downside was every time they put me on a treadmill my back would snap again and shoot me off the thing like puffed wheat out of a cannon.
I was not totally unfamiliar with fracturing my back since I'd already done it twice in police work and twice in rodeo wrecks but it was starting to get a bit worrisome, but it did give me a wonderful excuse for my rather high golf score of 103... on the front nine.
Looking at me as a challenge the doctors concluded that something wasn't quite right and went about trying to figure out what it was. At that time they advised me to apply for Social Security Disability since it was unlikely that I would ever work again. Didn't want to hear it, no one was going to tell me I would never work so I didn't apply.
A little over a year later the Mayo Clinic, in conjunction with Vanderbilt Hospital, National Institute for Health and Colorado Health Sciences finally diagnosed me with what I was told was an extraordinarily rare form of bone cancer... I was the 1038 person ever diagnosed with it. (One of my many, many doctors advised me that while there was no medical cure for it his suggestion was that I move from the high country of Colorado to Nebraska. I asked him if that would allow me to live longer? His reply was; "No, it will just seem like it.")
My doctors, and friends, most of whom are attorneys urged me once again to apply for SS Disability reasoning that it would take at least one or two years to finally get approved. The wheels of bureaucracy sometimes turn very slowly. I applied, gathered up my wheelbarrow full of medical records and doctor's statements, showed up at the appointed place and time... and was approved eleven days later. (Probably should have bought a Powerball ticket that day too.)
Because I had waited so long after the actual date of my disability to apply my Medicare benefits went into effect immediately... something that to date has paid for hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical bills. Counting my latest episode of about 3 weeks ago I've broken my back a total of 22 times so far, most of those episodes involving multiple vertebrae. Although I break pretty much everything else too on a regular basis my back is what breaks the easiest. This last time was from steam cleaning the living room carpet, the time before that was last New Year's Eve while pulling on a pair of tuxedo boots. I'm starting to think I'd be better off if I just walked around naked on dirty carpets.
For me, just for me, I can't speak for anyone else, the folks at Social Security have been most accommodating and easy, dare I say a pleasure to work with and have made a less than desirable situation considerably easier to deal with.
On a related note, during the upcoming sale night may I ask that we all keep the pushing and shoving in our frenzied attempt to acquire a new VV Grand to a minimum... I might break.
Jack
Congratulations!!! More dancing nanners coming up!
........ now that's some experience. I am curious how it would feel like you were living longer in Nebraska as opposed to living in Colorado. 
I've never been to either place so my ignorance is plain. 
Prayers and (((hugs)))
