OUR FUTURE

I was saddened to learn that the increase in Social Security for 2014, will be the lowest since nineteen seventy-five. About one point five percent People with disabilities and senior citizens depend on their Social Security and Supplemental Security Income Checks to live. I love my country. I am proud to be an American. We are a nation always willing to lend a hand to other nations,

to help them learn to live in peace. Sometimes, though, in our willingness to help others, we may forget that there are people right in our own backyard who need help 

How can the increase be lower when the cost of food and utilities keeps rising/? I’m worried about the future of Social Security, and Medicaid. If these programs disappear in the future, what will happen to the disabled and seniors who depend on them to live independently? If I were to go on Medicaid, I would only be given approximately six hours a day attendant care, five days a week. I need 18 hours a day every day. I would probably be placed in a nursing home.

A friend of mine, on Medicaid, once had to wait several days to have their medications refilled because their social worker was out of the office. This same friend needs some new equipment to assist them in their personal care. They have been trying to get in touch with their social worker, but the social worker has not returned my friend's calls.

My parents worked hard and saved their money because they knew I’d need care to live my life. I wish there was a program that would pay part of my caregiver expenses so that my funds could last as long as possible. When I told a social worker that's what I was looking for she said, "No agency is going to help with something like that." 

Services for the disabled and seniors need to be improved not cut. No one should have to wait days for their medication because a social worker isn't available to sign a form, or too busy to return a phone call. No one should have to risk depleting their funds trying to live the best life they can.

I am worried about our future. I hope that programs and services for disabled and senior citizens will be better in the future. The programs and services that have been cut will be restored. Maybe that's wishful thinking. Something needs to be done so that all of us can live the life we want and deserve.