My Poor CRV

Coming home from Carrie’s house after Trick Or Treating with Sawyer, someone rammed into the CRV while we were sitting at the stoplight.

 Neither of us were hurt, apart from the expected neck and back muscles hurting from the impact.










She hit us pretty hard, I don’t think she applied her brakes at all.  She hit us so hard that my glasses flew off the top of my head.  I didn’t find them on the floor until morning.  I am guessing she must have been on the phone or texting.

Now we have to deal with her insurance, or rather her father's insurance.  I don't know how old she is but she wasn't a kid.  I talked to them today, a company I have never heard of called Lyndon Southern.  Research time I guess.

Of course I have not had the damage evaluated yet, but I know her car got the worst of it,  my CRV was new and has all the bells and whistles on it for safety as it was the Touring Edition.  Good choice I made for safety ratings.

Her car.....



















Mine......

Sawyer loved seeing all the decorations, he was fascinated with this display and wanted to play in the house rather than gather candy.  I am not sure he saw candy as a valued commodity like the older kids did, he was there for the aesthetics!

Didn't think "stress test" meant this kind of stress.........A cautionary tale for old folks with short tempers

Well, I wake up on the appointed day and prepare myself for the Cardiac Stress Test.  I had comfortable clothes and my running shoes.  Not that I run, mind you, but I do have running shoes in case I might one day want to run.  Kinda like the fabric stash, red for when you wake up and say I need red, green for when you want to make trees, etc.

I get to the doc's office and they inform me that the insurance has cancelled my policy and I have no insurance.  What?  Huh?

Frank signed me up for COBRA and he told me the transition on Sept 1 would be seamless, no change, nothing different.  I wouldn't even need a new card.

Well, this was different.  For sure.

I call him, and I have to admit I was kinda judgmental.

He responded with the fact that I had wanted to make the appointment and use the insurance.  Really, is that your argument, darling?

I called Archrock HR.    Who referred me to Archrock Benefits.  Who referred me to Archrock Benefits - COBRA Division.  Who told me that I needed to call Blue Cross of TX.  Who assured me that I did have insurance but with a new number.  Even though weren't going to send me a new card.

I was supposed to use my ESP and divine the number through the universe.

I get the new info and give it to the check in people and they get me set up for the Stress Test.  I can tell you that I really didn't need it by then because my heart had already been tested with all the stress I needed for that day.

I walked fast, uphill.  They bumped it up three times and I was keeping up.  I could see my heartbeat and it was steadily even.  I was pretty sure that after 20 minutes of the fastest uphill walking I could do, that was more than enough to satisfy the doctor.  And just before my lungs exploded the tech asked if I wanted to stop or go on one more level.

Stop, I barely got the words out!  Stop!

Doc called me later that day and told me everything looked great.  I was going to live.

So today, is Friday and I thought, hmmmm……...I wonder if my prescription plan got moved to COBRA and got a new number.

I called Archrock Benefits -COBRA Division who told me that Blue Cross of TX would have to give me that information.  Blue Cross of TX told me that Express Scripts would have to give me that information.  Express Scripts told me that Blue Cross would have to give me that information.  Blue Cross told me that Archrock Benefits would have to confirm.

Finally, I got a conference call with Archrock Benefits, Blue Cross and Express Scripts and after they argued among themselves for a while decided that I did have an active benefit policy.

But...….and here is the catch...…...none of them would be able to send me a card with the correct number on it.

I guess what I will take away from this whole experience is that I need to develop my ESP skills to another level.

I have a Cobra Health Care Policy and I have the Express Scripts Prescription Policy but I would only have a card for the Blue Cross Policy.  I would have to continue to guess at the number for the Express Scripts policy.

Really?  The Blue Cross lady actually got on the phone call and ARGUED with the Express Scripts lady.  She was pretty ticked off that they refused to send an ID card.  After Express Scripts Lady hung up, Blue Cross Lady says, what a BITCH!

So I eventually will need a prescription or a refill and it will start all over again.

I hope the pharmacy will believe the piece of note paper that will be folded in my wallet with the ID number of the Express Scripts policy.  We shall see!

I think there will be more drama before it is all over!

And that I will be counting down the days till my Medicare Policies kick in!

Let's Talk Flood Insurance

The Federal Government, meaning you, feels so very sorry for those people who live in flood zones.  So they provide them with flood insurance.  It is called NFIP.  National Flood  Insurance Program.  You buy it through a regular insurance company, separate from your homeowners insurance but it is all the same NFIP.  Your costs are supposed to be based upon your risk but people with a home and no income get subsidized.  Totally not fair.  but that is the way we do it in this country, if you are part of the 57% who are on government subsidies, you get a lot of breaks that I work for and pay for.

And they don’t make them move.  I am not talking about like my place but like places that repeatedly flood, yearly even.  

Like my mother’s husband.  Both of whom are gone in the last 2 years.  He flooded several times a year, and got paid each time.  It was how his family of non-working stiffs made money during the year.  Stan's house on Lake Pontchartrain outside New Orleans was 16 feet in the air. 

He paid, get this, $157 per year for flood insurance.  And he was even in a specialized, highly subsidized, frequent flood zone.

 

We live in non-flood zone, with no history of flooding anywhere around here, and we paid $687 a year.  I have no idea what the whole cost would have been to insure Stan's ramshackle cabin, but it must have been pretty steep.  And the government subsidized all the amounts over $157. 

So, what if you don’t have flood insurance and you live in a flood zone or a non-flood zone?  FEMA happens for you.  I pay almost $700 a year, which will probably go to over $3500 in the future, and get to argue with the adjuster and get ignored by FEMA and those idiots who don’t have flood insurance subsidized by the government get money.   what i don't understand is how all these people had mortgagees AND were not required to have flood insurance.  I think they were, and just didn't.  I guess like auto insurance, you can sign up, show proof and then cancel. 

Probably, we don't know  yet, 

not as much as I POTENTIALLY will get, but they also have lots of interaction with FEMA because they are targeted as having no flood insurance.  The first question on the FEMA application is “How much was the gross income on your last year's income tax return?”

The second question is, “Do you have flood insurance?”

You self sort yourself.

Non-flood insurance people are eligible for food debit cards that get monthly refills, some small appliances like a microwave, an oven/stove combination, a bathroom clean-up and replacement and a refrigerator.  A sink but not a dishwasher.  Basic pots, silverware and plates.  

In other words, the necessities that will get them started.  Do you think I have been offered any of that?  

My adjuster told me he didn't want to pay for new granite but would pay for bottom cabinets.  How the heck do you get the cabinets out then?  He also said they would not pay for new silverware, dishes or pots because mine were not "damaged" by floodwaters.

I simply asked him if  he would feed his family on plates that sat in sewerage water?  He shrugged.  

To me it was not an option.

The Test Was Interesting

I arrived and was sent to the cashier check in.  She  checked all my info, made the appropriate changes. 

And we discussed what the insurance told me.  She said they would not send my chart back to the sonographer until I paid my portion.  So I was right, Cigna!  Cigna told me that I would not pay anything at all up front.

the interesting thing was that while Cigna could not tell me what I would be asked to pay, the Imaging Center told me that my portion would be $8.32.

Neither me nor the cashier could believe it.  She said, usually the patient doesn't pay LESS.

Well, that still remains to be seen, they will be billing me what is leftover no matter what the upfront cost was.  The cashier did say that the cost of the test would be determined at some future point.  So I am thinking the $8.32 was the cost of the visit rather than the test.

Still not sure how it will all work out, but I did have a nice lunch with Frank at Rotolos where I had good pizza..........just sayin'

This Is a Test

This is the first test of the insurance in 2015.  I have an ultrasound every year before I see my general surgeon, Kenny.  I babysat him years ago......

My brother had thyroid cancer a couple years ago and they found similar things in mine.  However, they are not cancer. And it is working perfectly well, we just make sure no changes have occurred.

I generally go to the Imaging Center and pay anywhere from $90 to $400 for the same test in the same place once a year.  So  with the new rules in the same insurance, I talked to the insurance company this morning.  And they can't tell me how much I will have to pay.  They said they have a contracted price, but the center has to do the service, not charge me anything, bill the insurance, THEN collect the difference from me.  Which no  one knows what it will be.

This does not sound easy.

Then I go to my surgeon's page on my insurance, they say my portion now is $71.  It was a $50 co-pay before. Geez.  I have that appointment next week.

So before I complain (too much!) I will see what they are going to charge me today.  I cannot imagine them not asking me for money and just seeing how much the insurance will pay.  I am pretty sure, even though the insurance compay ASSURED me just this moning that I would not have to pay anything!

The changes in the insurance we have had for 26 years now are so indescribable.  I say that because they really can't describe what they will do.   Frank's company is self insured but they have Cigna administrating it.  They made changes according to the changes in the Obamacare laws.  I am here to say, it is not a good thing for us.

In addition to that, this is considered a "Cadillac" plan and we are being taxed 40% of the value of the insurance.  Talk about a redistribution of wealth.  Get your education, get a good job, move up in the company and make a decent living.......then share it with those who didn't work as hard.

And yes, it got more expensive for the premiums as well.

We shall see.

Insurance Rant - my foray into politics

It all started with the opening of the insurance bill for my mother.  My boiling point was tipped.

My mother is now destitute, having no assets and less than $2000 in the bank.  I applied for medicaid for her since I cannot pay for her care, my brother told me he won't give her of his money and insurance plus medicare does not cover what it costs in one month.

mom in 2005

I do have a medicare supplement and the prescription plan for her in addition to the medicare benefits my father worked all his life to earn.  Medicare does not pay nearly what it costs, and the rules favor those who have no money over those who have savings from their lifetime of work.

 I just got the notice that the medicare supplement and prescription plan will each be increased by $23 per month.

So exactly how did Obamacare make it better for my mother?

mom in 2007

I am certainly NOT in the to 1% however my tax rate is.  We are decidedly middle income and have both worked hard hard hard to pay off our house years ago and own what we own free and clear of mortgage and loans.  We have carefully invested our money and not bought things we could not afford.  We both have advanced degrees from big colleges and paid for our daughter to get a professional degree from a big college.  The insurance that Frank has through his company, a Fortune 50 company in fact, has sent out notices that they will most likely discontinue offering health insurance once the full Obamacare kicks in several years down the road.  They would prefer to pay the penalty than to have to continue providing health insurance for their employees.  It will save them millions and millions of dollars in their bottom line.

I am sure they are not alone in this.  It will be the way of the future.  I guess you know where I will be standing when the time comes to pull that lever.

I firmly believe everyone should earn what they get and that it not go into the pockets of politicians.  I want government to be responsible to the people who pay taxes not those on the welfare roles, and not make their office their lifetime job.  Those in the public sector should not have a guaranteed tenure job, but one based on merit like we do in the private sector.  And no one should guarantee welfare for you if you choose not to work, not to study, not to be productive.

But that is probably not going to get me any votes when I run for President!


glen:  ohhh........I feel better now........