Insurance Calls, Amazement, and the Four Letter Word

Monday morning did manage to come around. That meant having to get my Mom's health insurance and prescription drug coverage squared away.

I tried to relax over breakfast. Not rush and try not to get pre-irritated!

I got all the paperwork in order in front of me and placed the call to the prescription drug insurance company. After entering via keypad umpteen numbers, I got representative James. I told James what Medicare told me to. James said it can't happen that way. That there must be a termination letter from the 'old' company included with the new paperwork that Medicare needs. Seems Real Person at Medicare forgot to mention that. However, between James and his supervisor, temporary authorization was set up to use the new plan.

Then the dreaded call...

The next call was to THE COMPANY that refused to disenroll my Mom. This would be the same company that my Dad retired from after 29 years. In order to try to do anything you have to talk to the benefits center. After a bit of touch tone madness I got Real Person Number 10+.

Oh no, this isn't going to be simple and I'm NOT calling Medicare again! You, dear former company to which my Dad was so loyal, are going to fix your screw-up. RP10+ says that 'it' won't let her manually terminate the coverage. RP10+ suggests that she turn the matter over to her manager. Fine! You do that. Ahhhh, but it will mean waiting from 24 to 48 hours for a return call from that manager.

How likely will that be?

(Huge sigh) And time for the last phone call. This time to the new medical insurance company to request the auto-billing system with Medicare. Once again, the touch tone nightmare to get to a human. Fortunately it was a brief call. Seems that there is no problem other than the snail's pace of the Medicare program. It takes 30 - 45 days for them to actually enter the information.

Six hours later.............................

WOW, I'm totally amazed when the phone rings and my Mom says that the caller is asking for Mrs. ______'s daughter. It was RP10+ from THE COMPANY benefits center. She is calling to let us know that the paperwork has been done. The old coverage has been retroactively canceled and the termination letter is in the mail to my Mom!

All I can say is I'll believe it when that letter is in our hands!

Now you may wonder, well, what about that four letter word thing in the title to this post?

S N O W

Yep, started Sunday night and kept up until early Monday afternoon.
You know I really wouldn't mind it if it could be 80°F while it did it. Oh, and no snowing on driveways or roads, either.

I used the snowblower once to get the first 4 inches. After that I shoveled two more times. Once so that I could get Amanda to work and finally to finish up after the last snowflakes had fallen. This morning it did look beautiful with all the trees dressed up in white. Even later today, when Amanda and I walked down to Loop Pond most everything was still white and lacy. So, while I do honestly hate the cold and work and expensive heating costs, the darn stuff is pretty to look at. The upside is that instead of getting the 11 to 14 inches that had originally been predicted, we only got about 8 inches.