
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 18, 1992                   TAG: 9203180212
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT                                LENGTH: Short

ILL MAN CAUGHT UP IN RED TAPE

Two federal agencies have been asked to reconsider their decision about medical treatment for a man who's running out of time.

Larry Gay, 41, has Hodgkin's disease, cancer of the lymph nodes that has spread to other organs. The disease has a 60 percent mortality rate.

But he is being denied chemotherapy because of conflicting Social Security and Medicaid regulations, said Margo Pryzby, his Legal Aid representative. Both agencies have refused his requests for disability benefits.

Pryzby said Social Security will not pronounce Gay disabled until he has had two months of Medicaid-provided chemotherapy. But Gay cannot get the chemotherapy because Medicaid will not pay for it until Social Security declares him disabled.

He has been unable to work his farm job since September, when he collapsed in a field after a seizure, and subsists on food stamps and $74 a month in general relief from Isle of Wight Social Services.

Gay is receiving some treatment under the indigent-care program at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, but doesn't know how long that will last.

Pryzby said doctors have told her that if Gay receives prompt treatment, he soon could be back at work.

If the agencies decline Pryzby's request to reconsider Gay's case, the matter could go to administrative law judge. That would take about two more months, and the judge's decision could take two years.

Nationally, Social Security has a backlog of 800,000 applications for disability benefits. The backlog is expected to reach 1.4 million by next year.

by CNB