So what benefits can I apply for anyway?

Ok, there are basically two agencies that administer most of the "welfare" or public assistance benefits in Florida:

The Social Security Administration oversees Social Security Retirement and Survivor benefits, as well as the two programs this blog is concerned with, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Social Security Disability (SSD). These programs are for people too sick to work and provide a check and a medical benefit.

SSI is a welfare program, and is for people who didn't work and contribute (paid sufficent taxes) to quailfy for an enhanced benefit. It has limits for a household's resources, pays a pitiful flat rate to every SSI receipient, and comes with Medicaid, which is administed by whatever state authority is in place.

SSD is "earned" in that you have to be working and paying taxes and not be a deadbeat to get it. It pays you based on what your income was when you were working, and just like a retiree, you'll get Medicare after a spell.

Now, both of those programs are a bitch to get, most of the time. You have to be disabled for at least 12 months, or will die within a year to get them. The bitch of the matter is it takes forever to get them, mostly becuase of all the lazy fuckers who have ADHD or Fibromyalgia or are bi-polar, or basically have some other totally bullshit reason why they don't want to work.

That's right, the system is jammed by a bunch of slack-ass malcontents who want a check for nothing. Those who are truly disabled have to wait through 180 statutory days while the staff at the office of disabilty determinations goes through and seperates the chaff from those that are truly disabled.

OK, in addition to Social Security benefits, the states offer foodstamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF nee AFDC), and Medicaid. Unlike Social Security's benefits, most people can apply for at least a few of the state benefits.

You may or may not quailify for Social Security benfits, state benefits, or a combination of the two.

I'll be focusing on the state benefits, in particular the benefits as they pertain to what's available in Florida, however most of the rules are similar, if not identical across the states due to federal regulations.

Another year without raises for DCF rank-and-file

Yep, Florida Govenor and possible GOP Veep Charlie Crist stiffed the eligibility staff at DCF again this year. The past few years, the state offered a "bonus" of $1000 to workers in lieu of an actual raise, so in a sense, this is nothing new to the staff.

This year, no raise, no COLA, no "bonus." Nada. The good news is they'll probably freeze healthcare expenses, the bad news is that the average worker at DCF is either looking for another job, or is vested in the state retirment system, and is working just hard enough not to get fired.

What this means to applicants, providers, and agents is that what was already a faulty and broken system just became a pool of quicksand, and it's the folks who need the benefits that'll sink- and with the economy in the state it's in, it figures to be quite a few more folks (see the chart).

Rather than continue to beat up DCF constantly, I'm going to spend the next few posts answering questions about the application, and some of the more complex rules for the programs.

The left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing...

Or more precisely, it doesn't care. The biggest issue with the division of labor that resulted in the shared responsibility is that accountabilty is out the fucking window. Applications for benefits are processed by the case processing unit (CPU) but what happens if they get lazy and don't do everything they should?

Nothing- Someone else gets stuck doing the work they should have! For example- Let's say a woman reports that she's pregnant. DCF is supposed to create what they call PEN case- PEN stands for Presumtively Eligible Newborn, and it's the result of a lawsuit against the department by a doctor who wasn't being paid fast enough. Basically, it's a "phantom" case that is pre-made for the baby, so that when the child is born, all it takes is a simple update of demographics and the Medicaid is already loaded in the system.

Anyway, the workers now have no incentive to actually do their jobs right and create PEN cases, among other things, becuase they know that when the babies are born, and the doctors, or mothers or whoever calls to bitch about it, somone else will have to fix their mistake and create the PEN case, for example, or correct whatever lazy omission they made.

I'd betcha at least a third of all the work DCF does is fixing their own mistakes. Accountabilty is nil, and it's reflected in the product.

How it all (doesn't) work

The new, modern DCF functions like a well-oiled machine...In theory.

Applications are made either at the local welfare office, or at any number of community partners. Of course the entire application is online on the Dunder-Mifflinesque Access Florida website. Remember, it's welfare, food stamp and Medicaid applicants we're talking about here. Some can't read. Most aren't computer literate. That didn't disuade DCF from platforming all applications through a terminal.

Once the application is submitted, a DCF worker somewhere receives it, processes it, then just kinda leaves it floating in limbo. Should any changes need to be made, a different worker performs the change, then sends the case back to limbo. Have a question? Another worker elsewhere answers it, then sends it back to limbo.

So ideally, all of these separate components function together to result in a comprehensive process. In reality, they fail in brilliant fashion. I'm going to talk a little about each of the elements in upcoming posts, and why lack of training and accountability muck up the works nearly every time.

So what happened to DCF?

Former Governor Jeb Bush had a problem. The Department of Children and Families. The agency that gives out welfare, food stamps, and Medicaid- The agency that catered to deadbeats and loafers... The ne'er do wells content to soak of the teat of society, giving nothing back. 10 children from 10 fathers, ghettos, junkies, winos, pimps, and whores... Everything his black Republican heart loathed...

After the unceremonious dumping of DCF Secretary Kearney in the wake of the Rylia Wilson debacle, Okie and Christian evangelical, Jerry Reiger, was charged with making a change, relegating DCF to the necessary evil it was, and tacitly saving money by obstructing the applicants. While he later departed amidst a swarm of controversy regarding acceptance of luxury gifts while Secretary, he set forth to transform the agency all together, and how they went about it was downright diabolical, if what I suspect is actually true.

When I first read the request for bids for public assistance eligibility determination as I sat in my office between clients, I was incredulous. Who in the world would ever privatize the welfare system? They already didn't pay us very well, our offices were in the ghetto and in shambles, and the computer system, F.L.O.R.I.D.A., was (is) a relic of the COBOL era... Turns out welfare can be a lucrative business, somehow attracting the likes of defense contractor Lockheed Martin. Guess building things that kill poor people abroad just wasn't cutting it, so they expanded to finding ways to screw the poor at home...

Anyway, it wasn't long until rumors circulated that Florida was on the brink of privatization. It just cost too much to run the agency as is, and somehow a for-profit company could turn a nickel and do it all for less... We would all have to reapply for our jobs, but there were no guarantees of anything... Fortunately for us, the state would also give us a chance to save ourselves. The department could put together an A-Team of employees, design our own department, and if we could stay competitive with the private firms, we might just keep our jobs. As soon as I heard this I realized that there was probably no intention to privatize, really- just screw the system up so badly that people would just give up trying to get welfare...Keep our jobs? After what happened to the department, few ended up wanting to.

The long and the short of it is that a bunch of out-of-touch administrator types formed a brain-trust and came up with what was know as Moderinzaion which stood for God knows what apart from a total cluster fuck that gets clusterier every day.

Ok, Here's the deal...

About five years ago, the agency responsible for determining eligibility for public assistance in Florida underwent major changes that are still evolving today. The result is an utter mess of an agency that is almost totally inaccessible, completely inefficient, and most alarming of all, wrong with increasing regularity.

I spent years determining public assistance eligibility for the state of Florida's Department of Children and Families, but left in disgust when it became clear that providing service to the community was the last thing any of the Tallahassee administrators had in mind as they envisioned the new and improved agency.

Hopefully, I can shed some light, and maybe help someone out who needs help, but keeps hitting the obstacles that grow more numerous every day...