In Which Things Are Even Harder Than I Thought
Today I walked the earth, like Caine in Kung Fu.
Today the local Medicaid office line had actual representatives to talk to, unlike yesterday, however, the woman I talked to and then her supervisor didn't know how trusts work. I wish I were kidding. The supervisor told me to call the Division of Accounts Receivable and Billing (DARB) and gave me the phone number. I called the phone number and got a message that the voice mailbox was full so I can't leave a message and there was no attendant to talk to. Click.
I waited through another ten-minute hold on the local Medicaid office line and asked if there was another phone number for DARB. There is not! Maybe I should try calling first thing at 9 am tomorrow and the mailbox might have room! Maybe I should go the office in person instead, I said, and they answered, Sure, here's the address. Here I come, the MTA Trip Planner website and the NYC subway system.
The DARB office is in downtown Manhattan, the World Trade Center area, and even with my phone's map and GPS I got a bit lost looking for 150 Greenwich Street. The building is very new, and its elevator bank was very new and alienating and had no instructions, so one of the front desk people had to help me. There are elevator sections that go to varying floors and a touchscreen for each section. On that screen you press the floor number and it shows you the single elevator that will take you where you're going.
I'm at DARB! And they can't help me at all because they only take payments, which I wasn't doing! A wasted trip. I need to go to the Atlantic Avenue office in Brooklyn. Or I could call them. Their phone number also had a full voice mailbox that was full so I couldn't leave a message and there was no attendant to talk to. Surprise. But I was outside and stressed out and closer to Brooklyn here through the subway than I would be from home, so another visit to the MTA Trip Planner website and the NYC subway system.
I took what turned out to be the worst entrance into the Fulton Street station for the train I wanted to take, but after a lot of walking and several up and down stairs I got on the right train. Walked 0.5 miles from the Brooklyn train station I exited to the Medicaid office, waited about 45 minutes, and got the first person who seemed to have some idea of what a trust is and that I shouldn't have to go through this. It seems that someone switched my Medicaid account in the system away from knowing I use trust payments for my monthly spenddown. She told me to fill out a form that turned out to be the form I was given, filled out, and mailed in in September, so I gave her a copy of that, my most recent bank statement showing my most recent check to the trust, and a printed page from my trust's website showing all my most recent deposits. She made copies of what I gave her and gave me the originals back, with a stamp and signature on the filled-out form to show that this stuff was accepted on this date.
She said everything should be resolved within weeks and said that my Medicaid is active now. I'll check that last thing by calling the general Medicaid help line maybe on Friday because tomorrow is a needed day of rest for me. I walked 3.8 miles total (some of it from getting super lost looking for a G station after the Atlantic Avenue office, though I saw some lovely venerable old buildings, some of them needing some love), took a three-hour nap when I got home, and woke up really sore. I'll probably sleep again in a few hours because I'm beat.
Still, I never would've gotten anything done by phone and it's a very good thing I managed to be mobile enough today to do this. Despite me being disabled, I don't have anyone to do this for me.
I'm so relieved I finally got someone who understood the situation and would actually do something, especially since so many HRA workers are so burnt out that indifference is their sword and ignorance their shield.
When conservatives talk about how easy benefits are and how lazy recipients are, please keep things like this in mind.
When I called the repair shop about my car at 12:40 pm, I was told that the "check engine" problem wasn't the sensor glitch it had in September and they didn't know what the problem was so they needed more time. It's staying there overnight.
You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost.
comments at Dreamwidth.
Today the local Medicaid office line had actual representatives to talk to, unlike yesterday, however, the woman I talked to and then her supervisor didn't know how trusts work. I wish I were kidding. The supervisor told me to call the Division of Accounts Receivable and Billing (DARB) and gave me the phone number. I called the phone number and got a message that the voice mailbox was full so I can't leave a message and there was no attendant to talk to. Click.
I waited through another ten-minute hold on the local Medicaid office line and asked if there was another phone number for DARB. There is not! Maybe I should try calling first thing at 9 am tomorrow and the mailbox might have room! Maybe I should go the office in person instead, I said, and they answered, Sure, here's the address. Here I come, the MTA Trip Planner website and the NYC subway system.
The DARB office is in downtown Manhattan, the World Trade Center area, and even with my phone's map and GPS I got a bit lost looking for 150 Greenwich Street. The building is very new, and its elevator bank was very new and alienating and had no instructions, so one of the front desk people had to help me. There are elevator sections that go to varying floors and a touchscreen for each section. On that screen you press the floor number and it shows you the single elevator that will take you where you're going.
I'm at DARB! And they can't help me at all because they only take payments, which I wasn't doing! A wasted trip. I need to go to the Atlantic Avenue office in Brooklyn. Or I could call them. Their phone number also had a full voice mailbox that was full so I couldn't leave a message and there was no attendant to talk to. Surprise. But I was outside and stressed out and closer to Brooklyn here through the subway than I would be from home, so another visit to the MTA Trip Planner website and the NYC subway system.
I took what turned out to be the worst entrance into the Fulton Street station for the train I wanted to take, but after a lot of walking and several up and down stairs I got on the right train. Walked 0.5 miles from the Brooklyn train station I exited to the Medicaid office, waited about 45 minutes, and got the first person who seemed to have some idea of what a trust is and that I shouldn't have to go through this. It seems that someone switched my Medicaid account in the system away from knowing I use trust payments for my monthly spenddown. She told me to fill out a form that turned out to be the form I was given, filled out, and mailed in in September, so I gave her a copy of that, my most recent bank statement showing my most recent check to the trust, and a printed page from my trust's website showing all my most recent deposits. She made copies of what I gave her and gave me the originals back, with a stamp and signature on the filled-out form to show that this stuff was accepted on this date.
She said everything should be resolved within weeks and said that my Medicaid is active now. I'll check that last thing by calling the general Medicaid help line maybe on Friday because tomorrow is a needed day of rest for me. I walked 3.8 miles total (some of it from getting super lost looking for a G station after the Atlantic Avenue office, though I saw some lovely venerable old buildings, some of them needing some love), took a three-hour nap when I got home, and woke up really sore. I'll probably sleep again in a few hours because I'm beat.
Still, I never would've gotten anything done by phone and it's a very good thing I managed to be mobile enough today to do this. Despite me being disabled, I don't have anyone to do this for me.
I'm so relieved I finally got someone who understood the situation and would actually do something, especially since so many HRA workers are so burnt out that indifference is their sword and ignorance their shield.
When conservatives talk about how easy benefits are and how lazy recipients are, please keep things like this in mind.
When I called the repair shop about my car at 12:40 pm, I was told that the "check engine" problem wasn't the sensor glitch it had in September and they didn't know what the problem was so they needed more time. It's staying there overnight.
You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost.
comments at Dreamwidth.