Health News.

Often people with HIV infection are unfamiliar with the large, bureaucratic social service system. They say that getting through the system is a dehumanizing and irritating experience, that the system seems to be geared more toward frustrating than toward helping people. People occasionally become annoyed enough with the system that they give up and forgo their benefits.     Getting through the system requires preparation. In a single, separate file, keep documentation of the following: proof of identity, address, and date of birth (driver’s license, passport, birth certificate); Social Security card; records of income, assets, medical expenses, living expenses, any dependents, anyone living with and sharing expenses with you, record of who is responsible for you. Take this file with you when going to the social services.     Keep another file of every person you talked to at the social services, what date and time you talked to them, what you talked about, what you understood the outcome of the talk to be. Find out the names of the supervisors. If someone sends you away to get more information, ask them to write down what information they want; then, when you bring the information, also bring along what they wrote. Do not try to keep your diagnosis a secret: some branches of the social services will speed up the system if you have HIV infection. Some benefits apply only to those with HIV infection.     Take a friend with you, especially if you’re tired. Some AIDS-advocacy agencies offer social workers, lawyers, counselors, or buddies who will go with you.*212\191\2*

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