NY Medical Assistance Hearing

So, a couple of months ago (I believe back in June) I received a notice from the NY Medical Assistance program stating that my coverage was going to be suspended.

Their claim was that my monthly earnings exceeded the program's requirement for eligibility.

I said, no way! That has to be a mistake. Their mathematical equation for estimating my monthly income calculated a number that was twice the amount that I actually earned per month.

Making my own calculations (simple enough), the result I got was completely different. Something was way off!

I called the medical assistance office and spoke to one of their representatives. She retrieved my records; after reviewing my submitted renewal information (including copies of my pay stubs), she also noticed an error. The representative advised me that the next step would be to request a hearing. So I did.

Yesterday (10/20), I made my way down to their offices (located on 34th street) for the hearing. Since this was my first hearing, I had no idea what to expect. I wasn't nervous, but I imagined what it would be like sitting in front of a judge or case worker and arguing my case.

It was quite amusing.

When my case was called, I was led into a small room where an intermediary and a case worker sat in front of me. The case worker presented me with documents that showed my monthly and yearly earnings, while the intermediary asked me to verify the usual standard information (age, address, etc.)

The whole time I had the quirky idea that this reminded me of the interrogation scenes from Law & Order. The only difference was that the room was brightly lit and there was no Det. Stabler or Det. Benson in the room with me. Lol!

To make the long story short, the argument was that I was being paid by two jobs because I worked for CUNY, but my pay stubs were from the NY State Comptroller.

An honest mistake, but one that could have been handled more carefully. I mean, they figured out through my earnings that I worked part-time, so how could they make such a gross miscalculation?

Unfortunately, I still won't find out if I'll retain my medical insurance until a judge makes a decision on my case. They weren't able to tell how long it would take before a decision was made (go figure).

But, I'll keep my insurance as is until then. I'm still optimistic that things will remain the same.

I'll keep you posted.
Until then!