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Legal Aid Society: Legal Help Can Restore Lost Public Assistance BenefitsBy Russell Overby and Hanna Callicutt, Legal Aid Society
If their monthly income drops by even a small amount, it can mean that bills don’t get paid and belts have to be tightened, if that’s even possible. In other words, it’s an emergency. At Legal Aid Society, we work with many Tennesseans, some of them elderly, who encounter problems accessing benefits that they rely upon for daily living, such as Social Security, SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also referred to as food stamps) and Medicare. Often, when one benefit is disrupted for some reason, it can create a domino effect that interrupts other benefits. “All of a sudden, money was a problem,” she said. “My check went down and I didn’t know why. I don’t have a lot of bills, so if I had to, I would cut somebody short and write a note saying that I’d catch up as soon as possible. I wasn’t paying as much as I should have to some of them.” Annette tried calling the Social Security Administration about the problem, to no avail. “I couldn’t get any answers from anybody,” she said. “They said they couldn’t assist me on the phone, and that I had to come down to the office. I don’t have a car and had no way to get there.” Our lawyers at Legal Aid Society got involved because we were doing a clinic at the Madison senior-living facility where Annette lives. She was not feeling well enough to come downstairs to attend the clinic, but a social worker at the clinic asked us to come upstairs and visit her afterward. Once we learned that her SNAP benefits had been terminated, we began to sort out the root of the problem. We contacted SNAP and were able to get her benefits restored, and were able to get her back on MSP as well by contacting TennCare directly. They told us Annette had been cut off by mistake and restored Annette’s MSP back to the time she was cut off. After TennCare told Social Security that they would pay Annette’s Medicare Part B premiums back to the time she was cut off, Social Security sent Annette a check for over $1,000 to pay her back for the Part B premiums that had been withheld. TennCare also informed her that she did not have to pay the $500 medical bill she had incurred after her MSP was cut off. If you or someone you know is having trouble accessing their needed public benefits, call Legal Aid Society at 800.238.1443 to see if we can help. For more information on Legal Aid Society’s free clinics, visit our website at https://las.org/find-help/free-legal-help-clinics or TN Access to Justice’s website at www.justiceforalltn.com. About the WritersRussell Overby is the Lead Attorney for the Health Benefits and Education Practice Group of the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. He has 45 years of experience representing low-income Tennesseans. Hanna Callicutt joined Legal Aid Society in August 2019. Hanna received her Master of Social Work (MSW) from the University of Memphis. She was a social work intern at Memphis Area Legal Services in 2018 and 2019. About Legal Aid SocietyLegal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands advocates for fairness and justice under the law. The nonprofit law firm offers free civil legal representation and educational programs to help people in its region receive justice, protect their well-being and support opportunities to overcome poverty. It serves 48 counties from offices in Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville, Gallatin, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Oak Ridge and Tullahoma. Legal Aid Society is funded in part by United Way. Learn more at www.las.org or by following the firm on Facebook. SectionsNewsTopicsDHS, Legal Aid Society, Medicare, Nashville, Nashville TN, SNAP, Social Security, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Tenncare, Tennessee, Tennessee Department of Human Services |
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