When I was accepted by Neuralink to come to Miami for their N1 implant, we had concerns. Because I am on a ventilator, I am not allowed to fly commercially. Ever since my accident, my only flight option has been an Air Ambulance. A one-way flight costs between $38,000-52,000, because it comes with two pilots who are both paramedics, a flight nurse, and a flight Respiratory Therapist who must constantly monitor and adjust my ventilator settings due to the thin air in-flight. They are all amazing people. Neuralink covers the costs of transportation and study-related expenses for their participants, but understandably, when I asked if they would cover this transportation, they said No. So, we began borrowing and saving for the cheapest option, $38K.
We had recently purchased land for the future dream of building an accessible home for me, but we put the build on hold so we could manage this new expense. When we were halfway to our goal, we received a call from our City, notifying us that the water main in front of our new property had broken and they "are going the way of most cities now in Minnesota to make the repair the responsibility of the homeowner." I pay outrageous taxes, but the city can defer maintenance or outright cause damage, and I am to pay for the repair. The cost? $15,400. The deadline? Immediate. Because of course, who does not have $15K sitting around to cover the cost of city problems?
In one day, we wiped out our entire savings for the Air Ambulance flight to Miami. We had no other options. I was either going to forfeit the Neuralink opportunity, or we were going to risk driving 1,800 miles each way for me to get the implant. We made the drive, against the recommendations of my care team at Mayo Clinic. On the way down, our van had a catastrophic failure that nearly landed me in the ER, and on the way home, as I posted previously on X, I stopped breathing and did land in the ER. Needless to say, once we miraculously made it home, my doctors were emphatic that we not repeat that trip. But I am supposed to return to Miami for my 3-month checkup next month.
My only option was to use the money the State paid my wife as my PCA for 4 months to fund this trip. Except one small problem, the State failed to pay my wife for 4 straight months, because, "oops, your Case Manager messed up your funding." We reported the Manager to MN DHS, but they did nothing. Sorry guys, you're just out of $20/hour x 17 hrs/day x 4 months = $38K. Wow, that money might have come in handy. We took all of these hits and decided we are still going to get an Air Ambulance, so I took out a loan against my Tesla stock eligible for a Pledged Asset Line. Since I no longer have income but Social Security Disability, I cannot get a standard loan. I can only take out a percentage of the value of my stock, and pay it back with interest.
We felt we finally made progress against the soulless, unaccountable, corrupt State of Minnesota, until we received notification from Pharmacy that my prescriptions were denied. We contacted the State: "Sorry, mistakes were made. You're not eligible for MA (Medicaid) because you're on SSDI and have to pay a spend down. What's that, you already paid the spend-down with proof, and we put into writing that you will have MA through September? We don't have the documentation, so we retroactively canceled your Medicaid without notice, including your Rx coverage, home health care, medical supplies, and the funds we promised to help you get an elevator. But if you pay $11,465 we will reinstate it for you. And then in September you will owe $22,930 to keep Medicaid. Please don't leave a message, we don't work on Fridays."
Also, we were notified we owe taxes on the money that my wife did not get paid, and MN Revenue will send us to Collections if we don't pay. While the State of MN is bankrupting me, I woke up today to see that they are still handing out billions š° to those who are defrauding MA in our state. At this point, my options are to lose my critical respiratory Rx, medical supplies, PCAs, and home modifications, or lose my Air Ambulance flight and place in the Neuralink trial. So let me just take that $39,000 I need for my very life and hand it over to the politicians in the State of Fraud. Attached is one of the notices we received from MN confirming I had met my spend-down and will receive Medicaid through September. That must have been before the bills came due to pay the fraudsters. I'm not asking anyone to bother Peggie (after all, it's Friday and no public employees apparently work today), but please pray I can find a way to come up with $39K ASAP.
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