Health Legal Services

(formerly AIDS Legal Services and The Diabetes Law Collaborative)

SUCCESS STORIES

Leah came to HLS because she was worried about affording health care.  Until February, she had worked as an in-home care worker through Santa Clara County for her father.  However, in February, her father passed away.  Leah not only lost her father and her income, but she was told that to keep her health insurance through COBRA she would need to pay $472 each month.  She could not afford this and did not think she would be able to see her doctors or obtain her diabetes medications without insurance.  HLS spoke to Leah’s COBRA administrator and discovered that she was eligible for help paying her COBRA premiums through the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  Leah was able to afford the reduced premium of $165 and was reinstated on her insurance.

Teresa contacted HLS with a number of questions about house payments, property tax, assistance with utility bills and access to mental health services.  Discussions with Teresa and referring agencies revealed that she was receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance, but that she was not receiving the amount she was entitled to.  Teresa had been living with her husband who also received SSI ; thus, her benefits were based on one-half of a couple’s combined benefits, a lesser amount than she would receive as an individual.  However, her husband had left the marriage the previous month and was not providing Teresa with any support.  Meanwhile, she had also received a notice that her SSI would end altogether because her husband's income had increased when he began to receive other federal benefits.  The HLS attorney appealed the Social Security Administration's calculations, explaining that Teresa’s husband had left her and that her benefits should accordingly be calculated based solely on her own income.  The Social Security Administration recalculated Teresa’s eligibility and restored her income. 

Samuel came to HLS with over $75,000 in uninsured medical bills resulting from a car accident.  He was working and trying to make payments on the bills, but they were piling up, causing him anxiety and jeopardizing his ability to pay for his housing, food and other necessities.  HLS was able to negotiate settlements on almost all of Samuel’s bills that allowed him to pay a fraction of what he owed.  The final victory in this case occurred when HLS secured a charity care waiver from a private hospital for Samuel’s $60,000 bill.

In Jody’s case, an HLS attorney intervened in her eviction from an apartment she had shared with her husband.  Jody and her husband had separated, and he left the apartment without paying his share of the rent.  Since Jody received only a small monthly amount in disability benefits, she could not afford to pay the rest of the rent and was served with an eviction.  The HLS attorney negotiated a settlement that allowed the client more time to move, dismissed the eviction case, and sealed the court file so that the eviction action will not appear on Jody’s credit report and endanger her ability to find future housing.

Updated: 2/2010