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Community Impact Story: SSI Errors Uncovered
By EligibilityOne At EligibilityOne, our Eligibility Advocates are committed to going the extra mile for every person they assist. Patient Advocacy is their passion, and we believe it is important to acknowledge their exceptional efforts at making a difference in the lives of the patients they help and support.
This month we are recognizing Jesus (“Jesse”) Rodriguez as Outstanding Patient Advocate! Below we share the story of how he went above and beyond for his patient at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.
Impacting Communities, One Patient at a Time: SSI Errors Uncovered
Our Eligibility Advocate Jesse Rodriguez has worked in the field of Patient Eligibility since 1998 and has 25 years of experience with federal, state, and county programs such as Social Security Disability, Medicaid, Texas Crime Victims’ Compensation, and the County Indigent Health Care Program.
He recently encountered one of the most difficult cases of his career.
Jesse first met his patient in the ICU where he introduced himself and the purpose of EligibilityOne. After gaining the patient’s trust and conducting a great deal of thorough detective work, Jesse discovered that although the patient qualified for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, he’d been unable to acquire them due to errors that the state and federal SSA agencies had made.
These errors included only testing the patient for title XVI benefits and completing the SSI application with an incorrect onset date. The state agency had also completed the wrong program application.
Already faced with the stressors resulting from a serious medical issue, no patient should be expected to navigate the complex SSI system alone – especially when it comes to investigating mistakes made by SSA offices themselves. Fortunately, Jesse provided the expertise and dedication to guide his patient through this process and empower him to pursue the SSI benefits he needed and for which he was eligible.
Over the course of many months of hard work, Jesse and the patient made numerous phone calls together and under Jesse’s guidance the patient visited the local SSA office to get further information and re-complete the application process.
With Jesse’s support, the patient not only obtained SSI benefits, but also received back pay of $25,000.
Jesse’s patient made the following statement:
“Jesse has worked nonstop on this case for 2 years and has accomplished taking on SSI to get necessary benefits for me. Thanks to his knowledge of the SSI system and his detailed record keeping Jesse has been able to correct the shortcomings of the SSI system. Jesse is still working on disability benefits for me . . . and I am very grateful for all his help.”
Thank you, Jesse, for never giving up on this case. In the patient’s very own words, you are “a sincere man . . . with a true calling of helping others in difficult circumstances.”