Down the Road

As I continue to travel on the dark and rutted road known as the SSI process, I had one glimmer of hope the other day. Out of the blue, a state health care card showed up with Sam's name on it. There was no accompanying literature, other than the multilingual disclaimer the card was attached to. But the point is, it showed up and I didn't have to do anything.

Then, I came to my senses and figured that I should investigate a little bit.

After a couple of phone calls and a couple of emails, I came to find out that, because Sam has applied for and qualifies for SSI (with certain restrictions), he automatically qualifies for State Health Care.

About a week after the card showed up, a thick packet of papers showed up in the mail. According to the letter that accompanied the thick packet, this was information about various healthcare plans from which Sam had to choose.

Also according to that same letter, Sam had to make his decision and fill out the form, and the state needed to receive it two weeks from the date at the top of the letter. This date happened to be about a week before we received this packet and since I’m pretty good at math, by my calculations, I figured that this left us only about a week (give or take) to get this done and it back to them.

Reading through the helpful healthcare packet, I found they have a plethora of choices. They have your ACO’s, your MCO’s, your PCC’s and of course, your ACPP’s. Even though all of this may have been obvious and self explanatory to the layman (of which I am one) it was not as obvious and clear as you might think. (I was, however, grateful for the addition of more acronyms in my life. I have been feeling somewhat acronym-deprived as of late and this filled the void nicely. Thank-you State Healthcare Agency.)

Since I continue to have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, and even though the clock was ticking, I decided I had better put my instincts for immediate gratification and resolution on hold, and wait until the next morning, when I could call Sam’s doctor and ask them what plans they participate in.

So, the next morning, I spoke to a woman at the doctor’s office and she told me that they took something called the BMC plan and another one (which I forget) - but only the MCO plan for either. But, she added, they also take the PCC plan. Okay, that was good enough for me. I recognize those letters! Even though I had, and still have, no idea what they mean - at least it’s something.

Sam and I filled out the application that evening and I mailed it the next day, which was Thursday. Even with the “lost” week, this was still within the deadline.

With the form in the mail, there was nothing left to do now except sit back and enjoy life (and do some laundry.)

On Saturday morning, Sam received two separate letters from the state healthcare agency. Both of these letters stated that as of the fifth of this month (a mere three days after the date of the original letter,) Sam was now enrolled in an entirely different health care plan, with an entirely different health care provider, than the one he had just chosen.

Since this was Saturday and none of the state agencies were open, and since I was still enjoying life (and doing laundry,) I decided to wait and call first thing Monday morning.

On Monday, it was back to making phone calls. I called the Health and Human Services Office to try to get this straightened out. The helpful, semi-interested woman I spoke with, looked up Sam’s information and informed me that because Sam was no longer a minor, she “couldn't speak to me unless Sam signed a waiver.”

“Okay,” I said, “How do I get a waiver? " "You have to ask for one,” she said. *Pause*  “Okay, who do I ask?”

Well, to cut to the chase and save us all some time, it turns out that I had to ask her for the waiver - which I did.

The form showed up in the mail yesterday. But rather than fill it out, Sam and I let sanity prevail. Instead, I fixed Sam some dinner, did the dishes - and then we went for a walk along the canal.

This weekend, we'll deal with the form and get it out in the mail. Then, hopefully, we'll get back to enjoying life.

And, with a little luck, I'll find some time to finish the laundry.