Well, another week has gone by. Last Wednesday I was so glad that February was over and hoped for a pleasant March with a chance to catch up on everything - and put away my Christmas Teddy village. It is not to be.
Last Thursday was pretty good. We went to the dentist and he had a wax of husband’s new partial. He fit it in adjusted it and we are to have the finished new partial this coming Friday.
That afternoon we signed husband up for a Medicare part D plan and a supplemental plan as he starts Medicare next month. (For anyone outside the US - this is the Federal government medical plan for those 65 and over.) Confusion - but not too bad. More or less an auspicious start to the month.
Friday we had a fairly normal day. There was suppose to be snow, but nothing. At dinner Friday night husband’s partial broke again along the same line and I called the dentist to see if he could fit us in Saturday morning - he could.
We go to a quilt show annually at the same venue in New Jersey as the woodworking show two weeks ago. We normally go on Thursday - the first day of the show - but due to the dentist appointment we planned to go on Friday. Due to the snow we changed when we would go to Saturday. So, again, we went to the dentist and then drove out of state to the quilt show. (It always amazes me how quiet the quilt show is compared to the woodworking show and all it’s power tools, in the same place. Another difference is that there are more tables and they are big group tables at the quilt show as well as spare smaller tables in the lobby for the quilt show than they have for the woodworking show. More women eat lunch there? Women like to sit with strangers? Women are more likely to stay longer and eat there? Who knows.
Saturday night we were both exhausted. I had 3 hours sleep on Friday night. Our reenactment unit had its annual party Sunday and neither of us felt like going - let alone dressing in period clothes. We compromised and went in modern clothes (acceptable for this). We got home even more exhausted and made a (relatively) early night of it.
Sounds pretty good so far - right?
Monday we got a call to pick up a prescription renewal I called in. Cost was $8 instead of $4.50. We also got a notice from the prescription manager of our insurance company that we could not renew this prescription at the pharmacy unless we called them and told them that we wanted to do so. Huh? We have picked up our prescriptions at this pharmacy since before we were on the insurance plan. I telephoned, of course husband had to get on the phone and tell them I could talk to them, I had to let the employee recite each medication, I had to say we wanted to pick it up locally at retail, and then confirm my response. She told me to call the pharmacy and have them reprocess the prescription and it would be the former price. I did so - they did so - it remained the same price! Could not deal with calling them back right away. So we moved on to our next problem. We drove to our car dealer with the printout from the manufacturer about the problem with our car. Of course they cannot just take the car and check it for the problem. We have to go on Monday and have an oil change at our expense - after just paying to have the car filled with oil. We then have to come back in 1000 miles for a “oil consumption test”. Okay, this sounds highly technical, but we guess it means the oil is drained out and measured and compared to the mileage driven - there should be no oil used no matter the mileage. So we are playing their game.
Now comes the real “fun” part of the week. Since husband is leaving our medical plan for Medicare, we have to take him off of our old plan - and leave me on it. Sounds like something which should be simple and commonly done. I spent over an hour on the phone with an employee of our state health division which deals with the ACA medical insurance. (Understand that we love our ACA plan - despite the complaints in the press, we have had a great price for a reasonable cost.) The woman I spoke with had to figure out what to do - again, I would think that this should be common enough for them to have a protocol for doing this. When we were all done - after I gave her extensive estimates of our 2016 income to use for the calculations - she told me that I no longer qualified for the insurance and I would have to go on Medcaid (again, for those not in the US, this is the Federal medical plan for poor people). I pointed out to her that the household income, which is used to determine this, is the same as it was before. She agreed that it did not make sense and suggested that since I was being asked for proof of income, I send in the paperwork and “I guess it will all work out in the end”.
We were both sick all night thinking about this. I worked for 6 hours copying income forms and since we each have our own business - finding receipts for the business expenses as they come directly off of the income before it is counted as income. Exhausted and ill, we went to sleep.
Husband woke me early the next morning saying he had not been able to sleep and I had to call back. I did. I got another employee who found the same information. She managed to determine the problem. Since my husband would be over 64 his income would not count and only my income did, and mine was low enough for me to get Medicaid. I pointed out that this made no sense as it meant a man could earn millions of dollars and his wife who did not work could go on Medicaid - she checked with her supervisor who agreed this was true - does it make ANY sense to you? She passed me along to a review division to see if they could help me.
The man I spoke to at same told me that I was right and both my and husband’s income would be used to see what I was eligible for. He also told me that the problem was that, even after providing extensive information the day before, NO income was listed for either of us - since we had no income, I was eligible for Medicaid. He suggested we go online and enter the income and it should resolve. I also found out that as of the end of the month I have no insurance as we had a couples policy and one person could not be removed and the other stay - I had to get a single policy. At each point and person, husband had to give me permission to talk to them about my insurance as the account is in his name.
Now, husband had researched this online as I went through these extensive calls and the work I had done the night before. From what he found, he checks the principle (him) is leaving the plan as he has other coverage and the dependent (me) stays on the plan. When we went into our online account to list the income he was checked as not needing insurance. It also said change of circumstances. We followed it through step by step - it even let us put in that our income was the same as 2015 (the last year a record exists for) and then let me pick our insurance again as my new policy. So easy. I really hope this worked and the matter is resolved. I have someone that we have been in touch with in the insurance company’s president’s office and will call her and ask her to check what is going on, on their end.
I then called the pharmacy manager again about the overcharge on the prescription now that it should be resolved. The woman went away for about 10 minutes checking. When she returned her answer was that the pharmacy raised the price. I told her that the pharmacy told me that the insurance company decides the price and they raised it. I could almost hear her shrug. So today we picked up the prescription and paid the additional - we need it and I will try to resolve it next week and get a refund.
Today I had to call our state tax department for a form I need for a corporation tax return. It is the only form not available online as they want us to file all the returns online and when one calls for the form they try to talk one into filing it online. I was on hold for 14 minutes to speak to someone to get the form. I had planned on calling for this form a week ago - but the time kept slipping away with all the “stuff” we had to do.
In addition as an accountant I should be working on clients’ tax returns, but have been caught up in all this. I need to get the returns done timely for the clients, as well as so I get paid.
We are now expecting snow on Friday - the day husband is suppose to get his new partial. It varies from a trace to 4 plus inches depending on who is doing the weather report (and that includes, as always, different reports from different weather people at the same station) and from hour to hour. We plan to run our Friday errands tomorrow (Thursday) as they are banking and post office errands and it is better to do them early and not have needed to, then not be able to do them and have a problem. I may call the dentist tomorrow to see if the partial came in early and we can come in tomorrow instead.
We also have a St Patrick’s Parade on Sunday with our reenactment unit - but we have told them that if it is cold (say below 35F) or snowy, we will not be there.
Now, I know that in the scheme of life these are all relatively small things - no one is ill or injured. The house stands and its systems work. It is just that we go through these periods where the small things go on and on, one after enough and become too much.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY -
In light of what has been going on, I will say that one needs a sense of humor and the idea that “this too will pass”. As upset as I get, I know we have been lucky to find each other and have each other this long. Perhaps I will get a chance to deal with the last of Christmas decorations this weekend if we are stuck in due to snow or bad weather or just because we come home between things we are doing. I have learned that often what seems horrible becomes humorous when it is in the past.
So, remember to keep your sense of humor and sense of scale when things go awry. You may end up with a good story to tell and laugh at.
Off to change a load of laundry now.
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