The Lack of Logic Goes On

Since my medical expenses have suddenly increased by $105 per month, I contacted my landlord to ask about whether this might allow my rent to be reduced.  My rent is based in part on my income but also in part on my medical expenses.  He said yes, it should be cause for a reduction in rent, though he couldn't say offhand by how much.

So this morning I took the letter from Social Security over to the rental office.  And was informed that, in addition to a copy of that letter, I would need to provide about 15,483 other documents because they would have to totally recalculate my rent.  Even though they just did that a few months ago.  Apparently there is no way they can just add the $105 Medicare premium into their prior calculations.

So, in order to find out if my rent can be reduced and by how much, I need to provide a current bank statement (which is more trouble than it sounds since I do not get a paper bank statement, I have to print it out from the internet, but I have no printer because I am poor, so printing anything is a big hassle); a list of every doctor, hospital, pharmacist and other health care provider I've seen in the last year (complete with names, addresses and phone numbers); receipts documenting every medical expense I've had over the past year; a signed letter from Isaac's dog walker verifying how often he walks Isaac and what he charges (the one he signed in December not being recent enough, apparently); a written prescription from my doctor for all the non-prescription vitamins I take, verifying those are medically necessary (the one he wrote in December also not being recent enough); and probably a few other things I'm not thinking of at the moment.

And then, after several weeks, I'll find out by how much my rent will be reduced.  The change might go into effect in August.  Maybe.  Because the people in charge of calculating everything do not rush.  The fact that I am panicking over how I'm going to survive on $105 less per month does not constitute an emergency for them.  And I get that.  Kind of.

That does not change the fact that I wanted to smack the lady in the rental office when she kept rattling off item after item that they would need from me.

It's not reasonable.  It's not logical.  It's probably doable, but it's not easy and it's not simple and it's not fair.  Like anything ever is, right?

I spent a lot of the day sleeping.  Because I'm not panicking when I'm asleep.  My stomach doesn't hurt then and I don't feel like I'm going to throw up.