Petty Vents

[Addie]

Thanks guys. This WILL get resolved. Thinking of sending the copies of everything imaginable via registered mail/return receipt requested. Except that the mail clerk would return the receipt and the envelope won't reach the right person anyway. Might include a "please return this when you receive this" postcard inside the envelope... Plus a trip into Worcester to drop off all those things in person to the secondary office might be in the works...especially since we can then take another trip to O'Connor's. Or not.

Bring even the junk mail that has your name on it. They can't refuse it and have to copy and put in your file.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Tempting thought Addie, but after reading the entire letter through a couple times I'll need a U-haul to drag in all the documents they want. And they want them mailed or faxed, not dropped off in person. Seriously? Then again, the people in the Worcester office seem to be completely clueless on how to do their jobs and if in-person delivery were acceptable we'd have to go into Boston. No thank you.

They want Proof of Residency: a copy of our town real estate tax bill paid just Monday has my name on it. Yay!

I have to check off the box that states I am not nor have I bee incarcerated. Well, not yet...

I need to send proof of citizenship. I have my birth certificate...with my last name spelled wrong. I also have a legal document showing that it has been corrected. AND a social security card.

I'm also including a copy of our church marriage certificate. You know, just in case they wonder why my last name now is different from what shows up on the birth certificate.

I thought we were told shopping for health insurance would be easy? Easy would be dealing directly with the insurance provider. If the government hadn't gotten into the act I would have been insured for over a month now.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Tempting thought Addie, but after reading the entire letter through a couple times I'll need a U-haul to drag in all the documents they want. And they want them mailed or faxed, not dropped off in person. Seriously? Then again, the people in the Worcester office seem to be completely clueless on how to do their jobs and if in-person delivery were acceptable we'd have to go into Boston. No thank you.

They want Proof of Residency: a copy of our town real estate tax bill paid just Monday has my name on it. Yay!

I have to check off the box that states I am not nor have I bee incarcerated. Well, not yet...

I need to send proof of citizenship. I have my birth certificate...with my last name spelled wrong. I also have a legal document showing that it has been corrected. AND a social security card.

I'm also including a copy of our church marriage certificate. You know, just in case they wonder why my last name now is different from what shows up on the birth certificate.

I thought we were told shopping for health insurance would be easy? Easy would be dealing directly with the insurance provider. If the government hadn't gotten into the act I would have been insured for over a month now.

It might be easier if you just pack up and move to New York!

I'm amazed at the amount of effort you have had to put into this. The insurance exchange in New York just cross matched the data I provided at the website application with the state and federal income tax data bases and approved my application.

Keep fighting the good fight!

 

[taxlady]

CG, I just realized that you wrote, "I have to check off the box that states I am not nor have I bee incarcerated." Does that mean that people who have been incarcerated can't get medical insurance?

 

[taxlady]

Yesterday I got three emails notifying me about the status of Barbara something or other's tax returns and efiling. These notices came from TaxSlayer. I replied that it wasn't me and to please remove my email address. I got nice emails back, apologizing and promising that my email address had been removed.

Today I have gotten two similar emails from TaxACT for Judith something or other. They, however, have no reasonable way to let them know. Replying to the email gets an automated answer that they don't look at email to that address. I tried their site. There doesn't seem to be a way to email them. I tried the "contact us", but the form requires a client number. They list some phone numbers, but I'm not paying long distance charges for this. They have an 800 # to opt out of emails, but I was on hold for over 6 minutes, so that's a waste of my time.

The second email was to reset the password. This poor woman is hosed. How is she going to reset her password when the email address is wrong?

What is the matter with these companies? Have they never heard of verifying email addresses?

I thought I was really clever getting the email address I have. I got it back when Gmail was only by invitation. Now it doesn't seem so clever, since half the people who wanted this email addy appended something to it and they forget to include that when they sign up for stuff or give it to their clients. I have a standard response that I paste into emails. I get all kinds of personal info (stuff that shouldn't have been sent in an unencrypted email) that is meant for some tax preparer in the US. grrr

 

[GotGarlic]

CG, I just realized that you wrote, "I have to check off the box that states I am not nor have I bee incarcerated." Does that mean that people who have been incarcerated can't get medical insurance?

I have insurance through DH's job, so I haven't had to apply, but I'm positive there would have been a huge uproar if that was the case. I don't know why they ask, though.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

ARGH!!!

Do you have a scanner? Most modern photocopiers have hard disks. If you don't want your personal info, that you are copying, to possibly get into the wrong hands, scan it at home or at a friend's place.

Already planned on doing that taxy, but now there might be another issue!!!

Got yet another letter from Health Disconnector. It is an insurance quote indicating the policy I selected and a bill for my March premium. From the looks of it they seem to be processing three separate applications for me! *shakingmyhead* When I went into the offices just before Christmas the girl who purported to take my application gave me an ID number to write on my check. You might remember they cashed that check in spite of not being able to connect it to any plan I might have selected. I guess they're still working on my refund. Last week, after talking to someone else in the main Boston office, the girl I talked to told me I could finish my application on-line...which gave me a second, different ID number (now called "member number") and account number...and allowed me to set up Electronic Transfer Funds for payment. Today's mail brought a new letter...with the quote and bill. Guess what? My Subscriber ID and Billing Account numbers are different than any previous numbers I have. OyYoyYoy! Tomorrow I call and (try to) clear this up. With my luck I'll have insurance and still get hit with a penalty charge because my two other IDs didn't get health care.
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You all do realize that if an author wrote a book with this exact plot no one would buy it because it's just too unbelievable?

 

[Cooking Goddess]

It might be easier if you just pack up and move to New York!...Keep fighting the good fight!

I am, I am! I know of people back home in OH that haven't had the same kind of issues I have had. I'm guessing when MA had to make adjustments to their in-place online program that had been around for years to conform to the new ACA, the system just threw up its hands and quit.

CG, I just realized that you wrote, "I have to check off the box that states I am not nor have I bee incarcerated." Does that mean that people who have been incarcerated can't get medical insurance?

Haven't a clue. Besides, all those politicians seem to have health care and some of them have been in jail...or should be!

I have insurance through DH's job, so I haven't had to apply, but I'm positive there would have been a huge uproar if that was the case. I don't know why they ask, though.

Because they can. "We're from the government and we're here to help."

The joke in our house has been that I'll get a job that provides health insurance before I can make it through this "connector" system. The sad fact is that I haven't applied for a job anywhere at all.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Already planned on doing that taxy, but now there might be another issue!!!

Got yet another letter from Health Disconnector. It is an insurance quote indicating the policy I selected and a bill for my March premium. From the looks of it they seem to be processing three separate applications for me! *shakingmyhead* When I went into the offices just before Christmas the girl who purported to take my application gave me an ID number to write on my check. You might remember they cashed that check in spite of not being able to connect it to any plan I might have selected. I guess they're still working on my refund. Last week, after talking to someone else in the main Boston office, the girl I talked to told me I could finish my application on-line...which gave me a second, different ID number (now called "member number") and account number...and allowed me to set up Electronic Transfer Funds for payment. Today's mail brought a new letter...with the quote and bill. Guess what? My Subscriber ID and Billing Account numbers are different than any previous numbers I have. OyYoyYoy! Tomorrow I call and (try to) clear this up. With my luck I'll have insurance and still get hit with a penalty charge because my two other IDs didn't get health care.
***************************
You all do realize that if an author wrote a book with this exact plot no one would buy it because it's just too unbelievable?

You know...it's a good thing you have this hoorah well documented here on DC.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Sounds like a real pain taxy. And it sounds like there is potential for your email issues to swirl down the same hole that my health insurance problem is in. What say you we meet in Montpelier for a weekend of drinking?

 

[Cooking Goddess]

True PF, but I have reams of paper and notes as well. What I'm really grateful for is all of you who listen to my rants, pat me on the back, and offer "there there, it will get better...just give them 'ell" posts. The more I type and the more I explain the more totally ludicrous and inept this process looks. Again I say, if only Amazon had been allowed to sell health insurance on its website I would have been golden! Ooo, and do you think they could deliver my insurance card via drone?

 

[PrincessFiona60]

True PF, but I have reams of paper and notes as well. What I'm really grateful for is all of you who listen to my rants, pat me on the back, and offer "there there, it will get better...just give them 'ell" posts. The more I type and the more I explain the more totally ludicrous and inept this process looks. Again I say, if only Amazon had been allowed to sell health insurance on its website I would have been golden! Ooo, and do you think they could deliver my insurance card via drone?

Just don't start having two bottle nights. I wish I was having some problem with mine so you wouldn't feel so alone in the fight. What a monumental fuzz up...I do have a few choice words you can borrow...

 

[cave76]

The second email was to reset the password. This poor woman is hosed. How is she going to reset her password when the email address is wrong?

What is the matter with these companies? Have they never heard of verifying email addresses?

And we thought computers were going to save us time!

 

[cave76]

To add my not so petty vent to taxlady's------ When I was close to running out of a med and there was no refill left on it, the pharmacy said they would contact my doctor. So far, so good.

I waited. Then called my pharm. again. They re-sent the request. Or so they said.

I waited. Still no refill.

I sent a message through the Patient Portal to my doctor. By that time it was Fri afternoon. No answer.

Fortunately it wasn't a heart med!!! But I still wanted it.
Sat a.m. I tried their doctor on call number. I called that number and got the nicest lady who said she had been getting calls for a few days for the doctor on call. She wasn't a patient.

She told me how to reach the doctor on call. (!!!!) She said she felt sorry for all the people trying to reach the doctor or she would have just hung up. What a nice person.

Finally the on call doctor called back. After I told him what I needed he asked me if that drug was a controlled substance. (It was a common antibiotic.)

Got the refill.

Yeah, I wouldn't have died if I didn't get it right away. What if it was a med that was extremely critical?

And, yeah, maybe I should have called it in earlier? To be told it was too early to get a refill???

 

[taxlady]

To add my not so petty vent to taxlady's------ When I was close to running out of a med and there was no refill left on it, the pharmacy said they would contact my doctor. So far, so good.

I waited. Then called my pharm. again. They re-sent the request. Or so they said.

I waited. Still no refill.

I sent a message through the Patient Portal to my doctor. By that time it was Fri afternoon. No answer.

Fortunately it wasn't a heart med!!! But I still wanted it.
Sat a.m. I tried their doctor on call number. I called that number and got the nicest lady who said she had been getting calls for a few days for the doctor on call. She wasn't a patient.

She told me how to reach the doctor on call. (!!!!) She said she felt sorry for all the people trying to reach the doctor or she would have just hung up. What a nice person.

Finally the on call doctor called back. After I told him what I needed he asked me if that drug was a controlled substance. (It was a common antibiotic.)

Got the refill.

Yeah, I wouldn't have died if I didn't get it right away. What if it was a med that was extremely critical?

And, yeah, maybe I should have called it in earlier? To be told it was too early to get a refill???

Gee, that gives you real confidence in the doctor on call, not. Good thing it had already been prescribed by a, hopefully, competent doctor.

What a nuisance. At least you got your 'scrip.

My pharmacy has a thing called "med ready". I phone and punch in my prescription number. They claim that is supposed to have them get my 'scrip ready for me, but it never recognizes the number. I've given up on that. They recently got an online site to renew prescriptions. I tried once so far. It told me that my 'scrips could be ready to pick up in four hours. I called and spoke with a person and they were ready in an hour. I try to do the automated thing, so I won't drag their staff away from serving customers, but it's just too much PITA. We weren't desperate for our refills, it was just a convenient time for us, since we were driving past the pharmacy on our shopping expedition.

I'll try the online thing again sometime. Maybe a day or two ahead of when I think I'll be passing the pharmacy. If it wasn't a hard winter, it wouldn't be a big deal. It's a block and a half away. I can walk to the pharmacy.

If I need to, I can have them deliver it for free. They seem to want to provide service to their customers. But, for automated stuff, they are being dragged kicking and screaming into the third millennium.

 

[taxlady]

True PF, but I have reams of paper and notes as well. What I'm really grateful for is all of you who listen to my rants, pat me on the back, and offer "there there, it will get better...just give them 'ell" posts. The more I type and the more I explain the more totally ludicrous and inept this process looks. Again I say, if only Amazon had been allowed to sell health insurance on its website I would have been golden! Ooo, and do you think they could deliver my insurance card via drone?

In a few years, this could make a really funny story. "CG, tell the one about the time you signed up for health insurance."

Just don't start having two bottle nights. I wish I was having some problem with mine so you wouldn't feel so alone in the fight. What a monumental fuzz up...I do have a few choice words you can borrow...

"fuzz up" I'll have to remember that one.

 

[Dawgluver]

I use the automated phone refill for my blood pressure meds. Trouble is, the scrip is never ready when I go to pick it up. I'm told to come back the next day. They've apologized profusely, and keep saying it will never happen again, but it keeps happening. I've learned to call before I go to make sure they have it.

 

[cave76]

I learned, from dealing with my pharmacy, to call ahead to see if the rx has been filled. After a few times of being told it would be ready or had been filled and it wasn't I then learned to call the pharmacy and ask a live person to go back to the shelf, hold the bottle in their hand and tell me if it was there or not!

Seems that 'was filled' meant the computer sent it to the pharmacist who had dozens (hundreds?) of other rx's to fill first.

Now I'm known as that witch who wants things to be done right. Sigh.

 

[cave76]

I use the automated phone refill for my blood pressure meds. Trouble is, the scrip is never ready when I go to pick it up. I'm told to come back the next day. They've apologized profusely, and keep saying it will never happen again, but it keeps happening. I've learned to call before I go to make sure they have it.

You've affirmed my gut feeling about the automated refill option! If things can get so 'fuzzed up' with one layer of automation just think the problems with yet another layer of glitches-in-waiting! And all the fingers pointing at The Other Guy.

No thanks.

 

[GotGarlic]

I use a small locally owned pharmacy that gives excellent customer service. They're only open from 8:30 am till 5:30 pm M-F, but it's worth it for the service.

They will stop what they're doing when I bring in a new Rx and fill it right away. No matter what, unless they have to order something (in which case they call me), my Rx are ready by the end of the day. They also call me if I need a refill and tell me they called my doctor; I call the doctor myself as well. They're experimenting with texting, so that will make things even easier. I love them