Handicapped Man Faces Homelessness After Financial Crisis Demolishes Trust Fund

As part of the Huffington Post's efforts to bear witness to the effects of the current economic environment on ordinary Americans, we're rounding up some of the most compelling stories reported by local news organizations around the country.

Thomas Ryan is a a 62-year-old mentally retarded man living in New Mexico who suffered a traumatic brain injury when he was 17 years old. Thomas's father had the foresight to create a trust fund for Thomas--but the money was wiped out by the financial crisis.

Thomas cannot function without full-time medical care. According to Thomas's sister, Victoria Ryan, his behavior includes "increasingly violent outbursts" due to his Traumatic Brain Injury. Thomas's trust fund, which pays for his medical care, will only last another year and a half.

Victoria looked towards government programs for help, but has been told that long waiting lists mean that her brother will not be eligible for 7 to 18 years. "When I ask, 'What will become of him when he is broke?' the answer is 'he will be homeless.' There is NO safety net."

In fact, Victoria can't even put Thomas on the waiting list for government programs, because she can't prove that her brother was retarded before the age of 18, which is an eligibility requirement. His school records have all been purged and the family doctor has passed away, leaving Victoria with few options.

She has found the whole process disheartening. While Victoria describes herself as "a very far left progressive," she is "not so sure that going through government channels is the way to go when I see the inefficiency and waste that passes for help for the developmentally disabled or Traumatic Brain Injury victims."

In the end, helping Thomas requires navigating so many broken systems--health insurance, finance, government bureaucracy--that Victoria no longer knows where to turn. She finds herself "plugging away daily trying to find a crack in the system, a loophole or some solution--there is always a thread of hope that I latch on to, but I have NO IDEA what I will do when I run out of leads to follow up on."

Calling herself as a "big picture person," Victoria knows Thomas's situation isn't unique. She believes the whole system is broken: that while the health care companies engage in "profiteering," we turn a blind eye towards the "homeless, helpless, and ill people among us."

While Victoria works to ensure that Thomas doesn't become homeless, his trust fund withers away. Soon enough, it will be gone entirely: "This is all about watching his money flowing out like one of those hourglass timers. It is a race against time."

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Comments

[Aldyth]

I don't know New Mexico's definition of proof. Most doctors I know will take the family's word for it that the condition happened before age 18 and give a diagnosis of an intellectual disability.

[FreedomCorpse]

Yes but as long as the crooks working the banks on wall street and elsewhere get trillions of US Tax dollars to shore up their insolvent dead-as-a-doornail corporations ...its okay.

[Justovertheriver]

# 37

[Meah]

Perhaps there are hospital records of the time of his accident? It might be worth it to check that out. Just so it shows he was under 18.

[AverageJill]

Medical records are not usually kept indefinitely. They are expensive to store.

The law in my state is that they have to be kept for 6 years or until the patient turns 21, whichever is later.

[condor101]

He was handicapped as a teenager and his parents did not apply for social security disability for him?

I know a family with a teenage handicapped son. He has been on medicaid disbility insurance since he was handicapped. He receives a social security check and free medicaid health insurance. He is in his late 20's now and works off the books as a mechanic. He makes a good living. Even if he were to stop working, he is covered by the SS and medicaid benefits.

So, why didn't the parents of this guy file for SS benefits when he was a teenager? Why didn't they keep records of his handicapped dignosis?

Seems so strange and irresponible that his parents did not retain these important records and file for benefits for him in a timely manner.
If there was originally so much money in the Trust Fund, maybe millions of dollars, it's strange that they did not leave him a house. If he was left with a 2-3 family house, he could have lived rent free. The rent from the other 2 apartments would have paid for the taxes and maintenance on his home and provided for food, etc.
The statements in this article do not make any sense. How could his parents leave him a large trust fund and not leave him a home?
Seems very strange and I think there are a lot of "Facts" that are excluded from this article.
Bad decisions lead to bad outcomes. Sorry.

[Meah]

You make many judgmental assumptions.

[wernerholm]

That's what Americans do these days.... make assumptions and cast the first, second, and third stone from their glass house.

[HisPetGoat]

Hmmmm... yes. And if my aunt had testicles she'd be my uncle. But if that asteroid hadn't landed in the Gulf of Mexico, we'd all be dinosaurs.

[AverageJill]

How do you know that they never applied for Social Security Disability? It just simply is not enough to keep someone housed in a medical facility.

My mother needed nursing home care the last 4 years of her life. She started out with a house, an assisted living apartment, her social security, her medicare, my father's medicare (since she was a widow and he died before the age of 65) and my father's pension. Both the house and the apartment had to be sold to pay for her stay and the social security checks and her pension checks had to be signed over to the nursing home. She still had trouble qualifying for medicaid, and she died owing the nursing home over $150,00.

[ibsteve2u]

Ahhhh....life in Republican America.

You can blame this on Big Oil and OPEC, you know. When that first oil shock came along and rocked our economy, Big Oil bought enough of Congress to prevent doing anything serious about weaning ourselves from foreign oil.

In turn, the surge in energy prices hammered the economy, giving the Republicans the wedge issue they needed to shove "trickle-down" economics down America's throat. That ability to keep more from the tax man unleashed greed across America. Those people - like doctors, attorneys, and the interwoven web of CEOs - who could set their own fees/salaries began raising them.

Even as the unresolved energy situation was hammering the cost of producing everything.

Then the CEO realized that cutting labor costs would yield him more money and health benefits began going. Then the idea of dumping American workers altogether struck somebody, and before America really grasped what was being done to them, we had inequitable free trade. Deregulation? Just another way to make money faster...assuming you had plenty of money to start with.

I recall "county homes" for people such as the unfortunate soul featured in this article. They went away in the '80s as the Republicans convinced people that individual greed came before morality, ethics, honor, patriotism, and even religion.

Anyway, if we rolled all pro-wealth legislation since 1976 back and fixed the energy issue...well, we didn't have a health care crisis in the mid-'70s.

[Carol Snow]

This is the reality folks, that trickle down poop does not work.

Look @ where we are. I appreciated President Obama saying that his administration does not mind cleaning up after folks and talked about how he and his staff have their mops out and have been moping and cleaning since coming into office, but noted that he does not appreciate the fact that those who made the mess are saying "You're not mopping fast enough"

Americans can't lose sight of that. I am tired of the bickering of the Republicans and would like to hear some viable discussion about their plans or suggestions in order to HELP get us move out of this mess instead of talking about bogus and unnecessary stuff. Help Republicans, use your energies for the American people and not just Americans who have money.

[hypnotoad72]

Republicans prefer to bicker. That's the only way they can stay in power...

[wernerholm]

For the job of President: if you arn't a fast moper, step aside and let someone who is step up to the plate. If Obama wasn't up to the task, and up to it quickly, he could have let Mike Gravel have the job

[Carol Snow]

wernerholm, I know you have to be joking, that's funny. Mike Gravel. LOL.

Have you seen a floor that was mopped too fast? It can be a half a@sed job. We don't want that do we? We want things done decently and in order. I know someone who is OCD when it comes to cooking. It takes him forever, but wernerholm, when that meal is done, it is the tastiest dish one could desire. Patience is a virtue. Sometimes the best things happen when it's done slow and easy.
Hey, no one really likes a minute man....:oP

[somegirl]

i'm in a similar situation though my tbi is nowhere near as grave as this man's. i am unable to work though and no way i could live off ssdi even if i could get it. they refuse to recognize that i can't work even though i become overwhelmed by sensory stimuli after very little time outside of my controlled home environment. due to family crises i left my career full time for a while, then i got a tbi. women don't ever leave your jobs to help out your family, because if your spouse dumps you when you become disabled you are really out of luck on the social security front.

[cyoohoos]

Ten bucks his entire family were Repuges before reality hit home. I have no sympathy.

[oonamanoona]

What a morbid angle of thinking.

[Meah]

Nice. Real nice.

[loki]

he had a trust at least. What about those who depend on SSDI? I have 2 extended family members who do, and one said his counselor said that is that to cut the budget, a hit has been ordered on SSDI recipients to bump as many off as they possibly can in the shortest amount of time. Basically she was told that unless your bed or wheelchair bound, your up for remove from the system. Look out, because the number of homeless and those without health insurance is about to sky rocket.

[Archivist1000]

A society is judged, ultimately, by how it treats it's elderly and those less fortunate.

[Archivist1000]

*its .. oops!

[loki]

Well then this society really sucks.

[BKROOBNZAI]

bingo

[puc4u2]

So what do you do for the less fortunate or do rely on the government to be the provider. Have you heard of volunteerism and charity or is that the government?

[JScott]

That's fine but volunteerism & charity have NEVER been able to fill the gap thus why there is government.

[Antiks]

There is nothing wrong with the government providing for the public good. Get over your governphobia already.

[oonamanoona]

It wasn't so long ago I was reading about parents abandoning their disabled children in hospital parking lots because they had no where to turn. How horrible when a loving parent's best choice is to abandon their child because the system doesn't work.

If volunteerism and charity filled all the gaps we wouldn't be reading stories like this, would we?

[SparkyGump]

On March 27, I had a mastectomy. I'm a guy. My doctor said the mass had to come out. One breast was three times the size of the other. They took it out on March 27. TODAY, I get a letter from CIGNA telling me my procedure was not medicaly necessary. SIX MONTHS LATER they tell me it wasn't necessary and are deneying the claim!!! Pure greedy evil.

[TXfemmom]

Fight the, Sparky. Most states would rule against them, especially if you got preauthorization for the procedure. Your doc probably thought that the thing was malignant, or if you had pain in the breast because of the mass, then it WAS MEDICALLY NECESSARY. Fight it up through CIGNA, and file a complaint with your State Department of Insurance NOW.

[dhfsfc]

Please, I hope someone has an answer for this person. This is one of the saddest things I have heard, but of course, I'm sure there are many people to whom this has happened.

[JScott]

SADLY he may have to commit a crime and go to prison so that would be the only way (and expensive way for the prison) for him to get the healthcare he needs.

[FoonTheElder]

Don't bet on getting any particularly good care in jail. In most states, the health care in the jail systems are very substandard.

[JScott]

May be true but at least the state is OBLIGATED to do it, since they would be wards of the state/locality the prison is in unlike the 'outside' where 'healthcare' is not a right.

[stargazer13]

this is so sad they stole from the handicap to no shame BAD FORM

[desertman]

More than likely they don't know he's handicapped. The lesson here is to be diversified.