My nightmare began about one month before.
Why my nightmare? I am the bookkeeper, bill payer, life sorter for the disabled one. Usually I do well with my paperwork. I am not afraid to get on the phone or website to crack a case. It is possible I may hold an unofficial record for dumb questions. I live firmly behind the axiom: there are no dumb questions, just ones not asked.
This essential health coverage for the "elderly" is a serious, complex web of paperwork, algorithms and PLANS. Can't forget plans-plans are big; so are key words like supplemental, enrollment, Medigap, drug plans (haven't had one since high school). My personal favorite is the word formularies.
To make it all very tolerable, each year you get a U.S Official Government handbook called Medicare and You, in large print. This year's full size handout had 148 pages. Thank you Department of Health and Human Services, you are doing your part with our national debt.
As I wade through dates and deadlines I keep thinking of real elderly people who don't know which way to turn in their medicare golden years. You have to pay for supplemental insurance and drug plans, which then, you wonder if you have picked the one best for you. Lots of these folks live on limited income, that is if they don't qualify for Medicaid. Pity to the poor oldsters who don't do or use the "web." I happen to know of one.
I asked a friend if they switched during open enrollment season (that brings a wash of mail in the fall) she said "We just kept the same drug plan because we didn't want to go through the confusion of a switch." Ron has one drug (of the two he takes) that doesn't fit under the right tier, of the five tier system in his abridged formulary. So the next step is to get the doc to rewrite the script. Your local pharmacist is a big help, but... they have to be a participating pharmacist with your specific drug plan, if not, you will need to switch to another pharmacy.
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