…are you ready for me to go on welfare, food stamps, and Obamacare?
I admit to a morbid interest in the prospect, since it’s quite possible that I’ve “fallen through the cracks”. Thanks to being fired I probably can’t draw unemployment, and Tennessee’s is terrible in the first place. But it’s also unlikely that I can get SSD (Social Security Disability) for the apnea. Here’s the criteria:
Cognitive Impairment
Chronic sleep disruptions caused by apnea can affect daytime alertness, intellectual ability, memory, and mood. But to qualify for disability benefits because of these problems, your symptoms must be severe. The SSA requires that your sleep apnea has caused cognitive or mood changes that limit your activities, your ability to function socially, or your ability to focus and keep up with work because of one of the following:
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personality changes
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cognitive disturbances (such as delusions or hallucinations)
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emotional instability or poor impulse control, or
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a loss of 15 I.Q. points or more.
Those bullet points which apply, I won’t be able to demonstrate to the bureaucrats. And while a 15-point I.Q. loss would drag me down into triple digits, that’s not going to garner sympathy with the paper-pushers.
So…no employment due to being fired, but also no unemployment, and no disability. What’s left? Hoping that Marco Rubio can get me amnesty, I guess.
Yep. It’s time to climb aboard the “entitlement” wagon. So pull me, my productive friends! Harder! Support me in my indolence! You work, I’ll stay home in anticipation of this…
…and this…
World's Only Rational Man 
Well, you could watch an entire speech of Joe Biden, that would net you a loss far bigger than 15 IQ points. Or maybe put on a turban and claim you’ve moved over to islam? Or claim you’re “native American”, like Elizabeth Warren did?
I don’t know. This sucks pretty bad.
Aw hell, Wormy, I’m so sorry to hear this! Wish I could help. I actually think that every self-reliant conserv/libertarian type who is eligible for the above listed benefits should indeed sign up for them. In the homeschool community I run into struggling families–often large families–all the time, and when I mention this they are all like, that’s not our way.
I understand that, but. At this point if you are not going to use the federal dollars, some other real slacker or maybe a green company will spend it, or maybe that IRS Ingram chick will get another bonus. So I tell them, get all the benefits you are eligible for. If you really must, use it. If you are able to get by w/out using them, then donate it all to your church, or local foodbank, favorite charity. You know, Robin Hood.
Keep us posted man. Thoughts and prayers.
Lin