I think I engineered my own version of health care reform today. That is, I think that my mom is no longer subscribed to TWO prescription plans. And with any luck, she does, still, have ONE prescription plan. And furthermore, if her primary care doc. complies and writes a prescription for Prilosec, that will be paid for by said prescription plan, and not out of her ever shrinking pocket.
Since for years she had one medicine that cost $15.00 per month, I never enrolled her in a Medicare Part D plan (that's the one with the doughnut hole in the middle and that was ultra-confusing to figure out when it first came out.) As soon as she qualified for Medicaid, the Health and Human Services worker said I should talk to Langdon Place about enrolling her in Medicare Part D. So, I did, and they did (which was, in and of itself nothing short of a miracle). I received multiple photocopies of her new Silverscript temporary Prescription Card. About 3 days later, I received a notice from Health and Human Services welcoming my mom to her new Prescription Plan, called, "Healthscript." Hmmmmm, I said. How did this happen? The woman at Langdon Place said "Just wait to see what happens." I said, "I'm the one going to jail if I don't report the $27.00 smaller Social Security check she's going to get if she's actually enrolled in Silverscript." She just laughed and said that each plan would scan to see if she was enrolled in another plan, and then they wouldn't enroll her.
"Oh great," I thought, then she won't be enrolled in either plan.
For the past couple of weeks, each plan has sent their welcoming packet and lists of pharmacies, etc., etc. But today, when I gathered all of this paperwork together and went to Langdon Place to discuss the situation (Oh, and I should mention that Sat. morning I had a call from the 3rd floor nurse telling me she had called new prescriptions to Hannaford's - oh no, no, I said, she is getting them from Unicare now, with her new prescription plan, whichever one it is), I found that Silverscript had called Langdon Place yesterday and left a message. Janice at LP hadn't returned his call (no surprise there), but said she would call to unsubscribe my mom. About an hour later, I received a call from Unicare Pharmacy, verifying that my mom had Healthscript. Yay, I said, Yes, she does. They wanted her Medicaid # which I cheerfully gave them, and voila, they found her in the Healthscript/Medicaid system. Mission accomplished. I no longer need to pick up or pay for her medicines!!!! A small, but important sense of liberation overcame me for a moment.
For those who remember my earlier need to "spend down" mom's money, I'm happy to report that when the bank statement finally arrived, it showed that I had the account $2.00 under the limit allowed by Medicaid. WHEW! Not going to jail this month for defrauding the government.
Citizens Bank is doing its part to help me keep the checking account under the limit by applying a $15.00 per month fee. Since I find that egregiously high, I plan to go in to see if there is an account that will be cheaper. Since under normal circumstances I write (or will write) 2 - 3 checks per month, it would seem to me that this fee is pretty out of line. My own checking account charges $3.00/month and I write a zillion checks and two zillion debit card transactions each month. Maybe I can become part of the banking reform going on in the country. Where is TARP when you need it??
