About a month ago, I was sent a letter from Medicaid saying that they needed me to show up in person to give them some additional information like my passport proving my identity and some recently postmarked mail proving my address. The last page of the request for more information said, "Mail in enclosed envelope." There was no enclosed envelope. And the first page said that I had to appear in person; but there was no address at which to appear. And, to top it off, the 1-800 number on the header of the form wasn't functioning.
So I took to the internet. While you can find out anything about anything involving your favorite movie, celebrity gossip, or restaurant reviews on the internet in no time at all, you canNOT find a damned thing about Medicaid on the internet. I finally decided to call 311 (for non-New Yorkers, this is 911 for non-emergencies. You can report things that don't need emergency attention like noisy jackhammering at all hours of the night or bedbug infestations. You can also get transferred to state and city public services offices). So I get transferred to an automated message that gives me the address of the Queens County Medicaid Office. The next morning I head there.
As mentioned in my last post, the journey from one area of Queens to another is long. It takes me about 2 hours to get to the other side of Queens. I wait in a line for about half an hour. I show the woman at the desk my papers and tell her there were no instructions about where to go. She says, "This isn't from this office." I'm always very polite in these types of situations because I know from experience that being snotty will get me nowhere, and this woman ain't joking around. So I ask where am I supposed to go. She says, as if she has been talking to me far too long for her own liking, "Let me go check." She picks up my forms and a restaurant menu and walks back into a hallway for 15 minutes or so, comes back and tells me I need to go to Manhattan and gives me the address. Then she lectures me on coming four days before the deadline written on my form, "If you get something like this, you should respond immediately," which just annoys me because I figured I had until the deadline since they gave me that as a deadline. Dispirited at the prospect of an hour train ride into Manhattan, I don't even respond to her attempted lesson and I walk out.
Arriving in Manhattan, I locate the correct building from across the street. As I approach, there seems to be a large number of people exiting the building and congregating out front. I am in my own world at this point, and a security guard has to hold us his hands in front of me. When I zone back into what is going on, he says, "You can't go in there. The building is being evacuated." Before I have time to question, the two front doors open as two women exit and a billow of smoke that smells like burning plastic spills onto the street. I'm starting to think that this is God's way of telling me I shouldn't get Medicaid. Sheesh!
Since I can't get into the building at all on this day, I get lunch in the city and make my way to meet up with Jim at his work to drive to Vermont for the weekend, intent on getting back to the city early Monday morning.
On Monday, I go directly to the 5th floor where my dear friend at the Queens Office had instructed me to go. The woman at the desk there is really nice and tells me that I am in fact NOT in the right place. I have to go to a different floor in the same building. So I go there, and it's not the right place either. They send me to a building next door on ground floor with a glass facade and packed full of a snaking line of people. So I wait in a line for an hour and a half, I hand off my requirements to a very disinterested but efficient man, then I am on my way back home.
These events all occurred a little over a month ago. I have heard NOTHING from Medicaid since then. And since they are so hard to contact, there is no number to call in order to get information about my standing.
Figuring that I won't be getting Medicaid even though I jumped through all the hoops to prove that I qualify, I give up and sign up for COBRA.
COBRA is a federal act that requires employer coverage to continue until a suitable replacement is found. This is mainly to keep people from having a lapse in their coverage just because they switch jobs and their new employer doesn't start insurance until 3 or 6 months into their employment. I can get the same insurance I had at my last job for $349.59 a month. This is the best deal that I have seen thus far, and it covers me for 18 months as long as I pay the premium every month. And it's really good United Healthcare insurance.
So, now that I've sent off the check for my first premium, I will probably get a letter from Medicaid telling me that I double-qualify and that I can have free insurance for the rest of my life. Ugh! I guess I'll find out when that happens.
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