Do the Mix-ups Ever End?

or...Government screws up once again...............

The Feds, the State, the insurance companies and Medicare, and the taxes.

I spent many hours last October and November sorting through all the health insurance options available for my Mom. Once I had made an analysis, I presented the top three plans for medical and for prescriptions that would best suit her needs. The first choice was a new Medicare Supplemental Insurance, the second a new prescription drug plan. Both are approved Medicare plans. As instructed, she enrolled in each plan, waited for approval (effective 1/1/08), and then canceled her previous plans. It's called disenrolling. She received her new insurance cards through the mail. So far so good, you'd think.

This weekend when she opened her mail, there was a letter from the new prescription plan. They'd canceled her. They said she had enrolled in two prescription plans and that Medicare would not allow it. I told her to call the insurance company, which she did. Then she yelled for me. She couldn't understand the man at the insurance company (he had an accent). The insurance man told her to contact Medicare. Mom decided that it was too complicated and she wanted me to call.

OK.

After playing touch tone phone menus with the government Medicare office, I eventually got to talk to a Real Person. Real Person was very patient and, most importantly, helpful. After a half hour and three supervisor consults, Real Person gave me the information we needed. Seems the old prescription insurance company re-enrolled my Mom rather than canceling (insert scream). So I was to call the new company and request a 'retiree something-or-other subsidy something-or-other' (it's all written down by my Mom's phone). Then I'm to call the new medical insurance company to authorize a Medicare something-or-other.

I called the prescription company and went through more touch tone stuff to get to a representative who requested that I call back in one hour as they were currently updating their server (loads of evil thoughts from me). That was at 5:45 p.m. At 6:45 p.m. I'd be leaving to pick up Amanda from work. I'd be home by 7:20 and the insurance company customer rep hours were until 8:00, I thought I'd have time to solve half the problem tonight.

Got home and immediately called. Went through the now familiar push button routine and got a rep. Told him what Medicare said was needed. No problem, he says. Thank goodness. He needs to connect me to someone else. Okie dokie. I get person number two. Number Two says, yes, I know exactly what you need, but I have to have an agent handle that, I'll connect you.

Guess what....

"Sorry, but due to technical difficulties we cannot process your call at this time. Please call back in an hour."

BUT THEY'LL BE CLOSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll have to deal with it all again tomorrow.

AND to top it all off...
This past July, the state of Massachusetts decided to require that all residents have health insurance or face penalties on their state income tax. Although I do not agree with the system that has been instituted to provide such insurance, we have it. Now it's getting towards income tax time and the forms are beginning to arrive in the mail. Since the state is penalizing those without coverage, the state needs the means to check up on folks. This results in another entire page to fill out for taxes for each person!

Now really! Why couldn't they just require the insurance company name and address, and the member id number be listed on the form where the tax deduction is allowed for those insured? Do they desperately need everyone to fill out another whole page? (This means 4 pages for Amanda, five pages for me, three pages for my Mom - just for state. Then there's the fed. Good thing I like filling out forms. Yes, I do all our taxes.)

So much for the 'Reduction in Paperwork Act'.

The media has been making an enormous to-do over a heartfelt comment made by Hillary Clinton while she was campaigning in New Hampshire. The comment, loosely paraphrased, was that she had seen the US make so many advances and she would hate to see us go backwards.

Sorry, Hillary, it may be too late.