Art teacher with dental and medical bills

My name is Liz Miller. I’m a beloved art educator in Baltimore MD. My experience in education has spanned 23 years: inner city, title 1, kids w autism, etc. I am a BIPOC educator who is culturally responsive, trauma informed, and teaches thru a social justice lens. I also run a mural tour company on weekends as well as maintaining my personal arts practice.

When I was hired to my recent teaching district two years ago- I had to fill out paper forms to receive benefits because of some recent technological breakdown. My benefits (healthcare) paperwork was ‘lost’ in the mail. I had emailed to see what sort of confirmation I should receive. They let me know, after the deadline that they had received no paperwork from me. I asked what could be done- they said very definitely that nothing could be done. I was very upset and had Obamacare at the time, though due to financial struggles I also lost that coverage about February 2022. This was when I decided I just needed to tough it out because my school district would not allow us to enroll except in October each year. So I toughed it out. In September I reached out to the benefits person I was in contact with- they sent me paperwork again. I asked them if I could bring it in to have someone look over it- they replied ‘no one here will fill out your forms for you.’ I decided to mail it in and hope for the best. The same thing happened again- the benefits Dept said they never received it. I went in and spoke with them and they said they would take a report- nothing ended up happening through the creation of this report. The benefits office let me know I should have signed up online though the person who worked for the benefits office sent me paperwork to print out and fill out. They took no responsibility.

This same month an infection entered my body through a broken tooth. My throat tried to close up due to the infection raging through my body. This took me out of school for two weeks until I self-diagnosed and figured out the tooth is how the infection was getting in. I had to pay on credit for Urgent Care, the antibiotics, then a crown and a second course of antibiotics.

I ended up talking to my union about why I can’t just be able to get my benefits now after the window is closed because they enroll ‘other people’ all year round. In the end my union rep, emailed and fought and got nowhere.

So later this same year I came down with another infection and I decided to go to the dentist straight away where they did another set of scans and found a need for a root canal and 2 crowns (1 was a replacement crown). I have now accumulated 15k of debt as an educator in America. I inspire students everyday in life but my two years in this role proved to be very difficult as I was unable to secure benefits from my employer and their window for enrollment coincided with Obamacare so I missed out on both.

I also applied to the Rauschenberg Medical Grants 3 cycles in a row and was denied each time. I applied to separate emergency medical grants which I was also denied. I’m currently paying back 6 figures in student loans for my degrees, as well as being the breadwinner for my household.

I even put in a HR complaint against the person from the benefits office who gave me misinformation. The HR person said THEY HAD TROUBLE SIGNING UP FOR BENEFITS. Ultimately nothing could be done to rectify the situation within my own power except for wait for my yearly chance to sign up.

I have now successfully signed up for benefits and am hoping I can get help getting caught up on bills with my dentist and medical bills. I teach 450 students each week and decorate my school with my students work- see @msmillerartroom on IG for the magic I’m creating with them. Please consider helping me get financially stable again despite my difficult few years. Thank you in advance for helping me get back on track.

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