'It was just magical'
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Printable FormatNAPERVILLE SUN
By Tim Waldorf
Obama gets results for family struggling to get by
The Merkin family -- Joseph, Joan and their three sons, ages 25, 22 and 16 -- have called Naperville home for 11 years. But for the past three, they've also been living in limbo.
Then, when opening their mail the day before their home was to be repossessed, their luck changed.
Compounding health problems forced Joseph, 54, to quit his job as a controller at the Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicagoabout three and a half years ago. A short time later, hairy cell leukemia was added to a list of health problems that already included diabetes, heart disease, severe back problems and depression. Now Joseph is on oxygen around the clock.
Since then, Joan's job as a special-education assistant at Naperville Central High School has been the only source of income for the family, and her benefits have continued to provide Joseph the health care he needs.
However, without Joseph's paycheck, the Merkins had to dip into their retirement savings and eventually file for bankruptcy. Up until a day before their home was scheduled to be repossessed, Joseph said, the family was afraid it would lose its home.
Then on March 16 they received a $64,342 check in the mail from the Social Security Administration.
"It was just out of the sky," Joseph said. "We were overjoyed. God had smiled on us -- and (so had) Sen. Obama."
Yes, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.
Before and after
Joseph's disability case had been pending with the Social Security Administration Office in Aurora since October 2003. During that time, the Merkins' financial problems continued to mount as their request for disability benefits was denied on three occasions sent from Aurora to New York City and back.
"It's overwhelming," Joan said. "You just feel so desperate that you don't know where to turn."
In August, she turned to Obama. Before she contacted his Chicago office, "it was all of the typical government red tape," she said. But afterward, things began to change.
"Immediately we began to hear from people," Joan said. "Things just started happening. It was like day and night."
Obama Constituent Services agent Joan Currie-Leonard worked with the Social Security office in Aurora to seek further consideration of Joseph's case, and after a series of hearings, his disability back pay was approved in February.
The check arrived a month before the award letter telling them it was on the way, Joseph said.
"We thought, 'Is this a real check? Can we really use it?'" Joan said. "It was just magical."
'We do 'em all'
Julian Green, Obama's press secretary, said the Social Security Administration can become overwhelmed by the volume of undecided cases.
"Our role here is to work with these agencies and see if we can bring about a happy ending," he said of Obama's Constituent Services. "In this case, I think we did."
Since January 2005, Obama's Chicago office has secured more than $295,661 in Social Security back pay for Illinois residents.
But Green stressed that the desired results aren't assured just because Obama's Constituent Services is on the case. Cases don't always have happy endings, and those that do don't always come quickly, he said.
"Even with our involvement, it still can take some time, " Green said. "But as you can see, I think the persistence kind of paid off."
Green said it doesn't matter whether a constituent is a veteran looking for work, a senior in need of Medicaid assistance or someone like the Merkins struggling with Social Security issues -- Obama's Constituent Services will listen.
"We do 'em all," he said. "Every request will be given consideration, and every request will be given a response, either positive or negative."
From desperation to relief
The fact that Obama's office considered her request was "wonderful," Joan said. She has "no doubt" the help her family needed would not have arrived when it did without the help from Obama's office.
"I know it never would have happened had someone not intervened," she said.
Now, with the back pay and normal monthly payments on their way, the Merkins will be able to refinance their home, Joan said, and keep it at least long enough for the youngest of their three sons to graduate high school.
"It won't be the desperation that we were feeling before," she said.
The check doesn't solve all of their problems. Joseph still has his health problems, and Joan, 50, said retirement is not in the near future.
"We're a long ways from where we were," Joseph said. "But it's still a real relief for us."