It's A Belated Christmas Miracle

OM frickin G!  (I heard that on Cake Boss and I thought it was hilarious) Anyway, I have been struggling with Medicaid and Medicare ever since my Mother and Mother-In-Law have been in a Nursing Home.  If you have ever tried to get information or get anything resolved with either agency, you know what I mean.  It's a nightmare.  After my most recent circle jerk with Medicaid I was so frustrated, I filed a complaint with the Attorney General under Insurance Fraud.  I knew that wasn't really the right place to complain to, but I didn't know where else to start.  I figured at the very least it would get their attention.  I didn't hear anything for over a month; then I received a letter.  It stated their agency was not the correct agency to handle my claim but it had been forwarded to the agency that would be able to take care of it.

When my husband saw the letter with the return address of Attorney General he thought for sure we were both going to jail (for what, I don't know).

About a week after I received the letter I received a phone call and an email from someone in the office overseeing Medicaid Administration.  I was shocked!!!!! I have never had a more pleasant and productive conversation with someone in a government office in my life.  She was not only going to take care of my Mother-In-Laws issues (for which the complaint was filed) but my Mother's as well.  She has also reassured me she would be keeping in contact with me on a weekly basis until the issues are resolved.  Maybe I'm being gullible, but I believed her.  A little bit of faith has been restored in my otherwise negative opinion of the government.  While it's far from perfect it is nice to know there are avenues of resolution that do work.

Hopefully I am not getting too excited too soon.  I will hold off on the fireworks until everything is resolved, but at least there is a spark waiting to ignite!!!!

Let's Stop The Pussy Foot Train

After leaving my favorite coffee shop (Dunkin Donuts) and driving past the employee entrance of the local IHop, I had an epiphany. I know how we can fix the health care problem.

You see, at the employee entrance of the IHop there were 7 people standing outside in the 20 degree temperature smoking cigarettes. How can one not see the sheer stupidity of that scenario???? Human survival instinct tells us to avoid situations that would put us in harms way. Standing in below freezing temperatures with inappropriate clothing and ingesting a substance that further restricts blood flow goes against natural survival instincts and brings to mind the Darwinian theory of natural selection (survival of the fittest).

So, how does this relate to the health care issue? You ask. If you smoke, you are penalized with higher insurance premiums than those that don't smoke. You would also pay higher deductibles for procedures you need that are related to smoking. You wouldn't be allowed to be on Medicaid or Medicare if you smoked either. If you're asking for a government handout, then you should not be able to spend your money on $4 a pack cigarettes.

Nothing pisses me off more than to see a woman with 4 kids, cigarettes in her purse, talking on a cell phone about what club she's going to tonight, and paying for her groceries with food stamps. Come on lady why don't you just slap me in the face and laugh at me, because that's what it feels like your doing.

Can America get off the pussy foot train and start getting tough on freeloaders. While we're at it, lets limit the number of babies a woman on welfare can have. That's right, I said it and I mean it. They're asking for a handout, then there should be conditions with that handout.

I am so sick of hearing about being politically correct. Some people just need to have their asses handed to them.

The other thing that really got me going tonight was what I heard on the news about the second Nigerian that caused a "disturbance" on a plane. They reported that he was on the terrorist watch list, but not on the no fly list. HOW FUCKING STUPID CAN WE BE!!!!!! This guys own father turned him in. But we can't do anything to him because there is no evidence he's a terrorists. We're just going to let him do whatever he wants and then we'll pick up the pieces after he blows something up. Fry the bastard now or send him back to Nigeria.

I'm sure that things would be a lot better if America just focused on America and let everyone else fend for themselves.

I feel better that I got that off of my chest, but really I mostly feel sad that this is where we are as a culture. I think we need a do over.

I Survived The Process

If you've seen my comments on facebook, then you know I have finally succeeded in securing Medicade for my Mom. What an interesting process! After all of my phone calls ended in more confusing information or no information at all I decided to take matters into my own hands and show up at the office of Family and Social Services. I chose to go to a rural office instead of the one in downtown Fort Wayne. I had been told by more than one person that the rural office would be less busy. In front of me in the parking lot was an elderly couple. They were hunting for parking spot. I assumed they were going to the Social Services office too. I figured I could totally out run them and get ahead of them in line. I parked really quickly and went around to the passenger side to retrieve all of my paperwork. In my haste things fell out of the car and papers started flying around. I quickly gathered the fallen items, grabbed my purse and briefcase and took off for the door. Even with my little mishap at the car I was still way ahead of them. I turned around to see where they were and saw them walking into the grocery store. I laughed a little to myself and then hoped that I didn't screw up my good Karma by being so selfish. There was only one other person in the waiting room when I walked in, and she was working on a computer. A lady came out right away when the door buzzer sounded.
I informed her that I needed to talk to someone about my Mom's case. She looked at me kind of puzzled, like this was an unusual occurrence. She says: "did someone tell you to come here?" I say: "yes, my psychic." No, I didn't really say that but I thought it was a weird question. Then she tells me that there is a phone on the desk here that is a direct line to the 1-800# for the office in Indy. Really???? I didn't just drive 20 miles so that I could use your phone. I remained calm and tried to explain my problem the best I could while standing in the middle of the waiting room. The issues I have are not things that I can explain in a sentence or two. I rattled off the entire story. Then I heard it.....the voice coming from behind the screen asking me questions. Actually the voice from behind the screen was asking the worker to ask me questions ( like I couldn't hear her). I decided to bypass the worker standing in front of me and just talk to the screen. The screen seemed to have more authority. The screen asked me if I had any paperwork with me. I asked her which volume she wanted. The worker took my paperwork to the voice behind the screen. I could hear whispers behind the screen and a lot of computer work, while I sat in the lobby cleaning out my purse and writing my grocery list. Finally the screen invited me in. She was smaller than I thought she would be, kind of like the wizard of OZ. She didn't look at me much and I could tell that it was best I didn't try to talk to her, just answer her questions as she asked them. Things were not working out for her and she had to go ask someone else behind another screen what to do. When she finally came back, she and the other screen had everything figured out. She fixed the mistakes that other workers had made and says: "Ok, she's approved starting with July." What????? That's it?????? Done???? I went in there expecting to get some answers to my questions, but that was it. I was ecstatic to find out that this process was finally done. Wellllll....I'm 99.9% sure it's done. I have her Medicaid card number, but I don't have the actual card in my hot little hands yet.

Although this process was long and frustrating, my experience with the workers I encountered was not that bad. Everyone I talked to was nice (even though they gave me wrong information). Maybe they were nice to me because I was nice to them and appreciative of their help. I'm sure their job is not that pleasant. A lady came into the lobby while I was behind the screen and I heard her entire sob story. I could tell by her voice she was frustrated and about at the end of her rope. They must hear stuff like that all day long. No wonder they don't want to deal with anyone in person. That lady was calm, but I'm sure they get more than their fair share of hot heads. I actually thought while I was sitting there that I hoped no one came in with a gun and started shooting the place up.

Anyone out there need any help with this kind of thing, let me know. I can at least tell you what not to do.

I'm Not Asking For Too Much...Am I?

If it weren't for the fact that I'm trying to deal with the VA and Medicaid for my Mom, this TV thing might drive me to the loony bin. The TV quit working last night, but it works today. Problem is I don't want to watch TV during the day. I reserve my days for staying on hold with the VA and Medicaid offices. I was on hold yesterday for a total of 67 minutes. I put the phone on speaker and carried it around with me from room to room while I waited for someone to answer. When they finally did answer it's was like starting all over from the beginning because everyone tells me something different. It's not necessarily that they give me wrong information, it's that they don't give me complete information. Every time I call it's like getting another piece of the puzzle. This is one of those 1000 piece puzzles with all blue sky. I'm at a stand still right now because Medicaid can't figure out if my Mom is eligible until the VA reduces her award and the VA won't reduce her award until she is approved for Medicaid. Really?????? How does this happen? I thought this only happened on TV to other people. But then again, how would I know that, my TV doesn't work. Mom's application for Medicaid should go through like diarrhea through a colon (sorry, being in the medical field that's the only analogy I could think of). My Mom has zero assets, zero savings and limited income from Social Security and the VA. It's a no brainer; however, somehow the government has figured out how to make it complicated.

If anyone reading this is close to having to apply for Medicaid for a loved one, my advice is to start ASAP. It takes time to sort through the bull shit. After all of this work I have put in, I may end up having to hire an attorney that specializes in Medicaid. That concept pisses me off.

I have to admit that I don't know much about the government run health care proposal. Short of reading the actual bill, I don't really listen to the arguments of Republicans or Democrats. I consider politicians to be a bunch of narcissistic individuals that want to promote their own agenda no matter how many lies they tell. I can't however, help but worry that if the health care system gets in the hands of the government it will be run like Medicaid and the VA system. We'll have to hire lawyers for our medical claims. I should have pushed for my kids to go to law school; at least they would have job security.

I'm happy, healthy and I have a great family. I don't want to be greedy, I just really want to be able to watch TV and know that my Mom is taken care of. That's all!