“They (Maine PERS) don’t even see someone in person, or meet with their doctors. “Right now it’s a completely hands-off paperwork funnel,” Foley said. He also said he wants to make some big changes to the application review process. We had to adjust our lives each time he was denied, and just the process alone was a part-time job.”įoley introduced LD 1463, "An Act To Allow Members of the State Employee and Teacher Retirement Program To Reapply for Disability Retirement Benefits after Denial and To Allow the Board of Trustees of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System To Offer Long-term Disability Insurance Coverage".įoley said his bill will give people the ability to re-apply for disability benefits if they attempt to return to work and are unsuccessful. I do think the process took an emotional and physical toll on all of us. “This is where the resentment can creep in. “This has been one of the most dehumanizing experiences, and we have to do this to help other people,” Breneman said. The system stated that because Bob had already applied and been denied on one condition, that he could not apply again on this same condition.” The system stated that Bob's job as an elementary school teacher was 'sedentary' and that he had 'no functional limitations.' The system rejected our medical specialists' diagnoses. 8, 2015.īreneman testified in Augusta that, “the system decided that Bob's condition could not be deemed permanent.
Sprankle's benefits eventually came through last fall, after years of crushing denials that left the family without an income and relying on the generosity of their community to keep them afloat, and just weeks before his death on Dec. His applications were denied twice, and “administratively dismissed” a third time.
The couple were locked in a years-long battle with the Maine PERS disability program fighting for benefits to support their family and help with Bob’s medical needs. Sprankle an inspiring and award-winning technology teacher in Wells for 17 years suffered crippling neuropathic pain from complications from polypropylene mesh used during an operation nearly a decade ago. Robert Foley, R-Wells, said will save the estimated 65,000 Maine teachers and state employees covered under Maine PERS from that nightmare. 13, Breneman spoke in support of LD 1463, a bill that sponsor State Rep. Standing before the Appropriations and Financial Services Committee in Augusta on Jan. WELLS - Jody Breneman called the process she and her late husband, former Wells teacher Bob Sprankle, endured in trying to secure benefits from the Maine Public Employees Retirement System a "dehumanizing" nightmare.
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