Rant #2,811: Help Yourself

 

Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the water, I have found my own personal “Jaws” continues to prevent me from jumping right in.
 
And my own personal “Jaws” is our son’s health insurance, which has provided me with enough obstacles that would fool even the most experienced swimmer.
 
The problem began several months ago, when my son turned 26 years of age.
 
Due to New York State law,, he could not be on any one of his parents’ health plans anymore, and had to get his own plan, meaning that he could not be covered by my wife’s health plan from her work, as he had been since infancy.
 
Our son has been on Social Security Disability for many years—that is a story in itself which I won’t go into here, but just know that the only reason that I was able to get it for him has to do with a political figure who is now set to go into jail for something completely unrelated to this--and we figured that our son could easily dovetail into Medicare—which he already had but never used—and that he would be fully covered health-wise.
 
We later found out that although he already had Part A coverage—basically prescription coverage—that he never was given Part B coverage, as he should have been from the get go, which was necessary for doctor’s visits.
 
And this put me through a several-weeks-long spiral that had me contacting local legislators to get this done after double-talk from both Medicare and Social Security, and it even led me to not vote for a sitting legislator who refused to help us, breaking Politics Rule 101: do not blow off a constituent literally a week before you are running for re-election … and this politician lost by just about 1,000 votes.
 
It took a while, but finally, with Parts A and B in place, we thought that our son needed nothing else related to health insurance. We were told by seasoned insurance professionals that he was all set.
 
Boy, were they wrong!
 
Like anyone else on Medicare, we found that our son needed supplemental plans to fully round out his insurance.
 
Part B gave him the ability to have doctor’s visits, but even the seasoned professionals did not realize that Medicate Disability is the same as regular Medicare, and without extra coverage, you are up the river without a paddle, in particular when you need dental and vision services.
 
We found that out the hard way yesterday, when I unwittingly took our son to the dentist for a cleaning, and they told us that we were not covered.
 
Not knowing what to do, we simply paid the full price for the cleaning, and as his mouth was being scoured, I called up my own dental plan which I was forced to get as part of my insurance when my wife retired and lost her insurance through work …
 
And I ended up being on and off the line for the next two and a half hours, being shoveled from one place to another, being disconnected, and being put on hold for an interminable amount of time.
 
Yes, I finally got him a dental plan—the same one that I have, and that my dentist assured me can be used in their office—but when I finally hooked up with someone who could help me, I got someone who had lost his voice, was coughing all over the place, and who, a good part of the time, I could not hear because he was in such distress himself.
 
I swear, if COVID was transferable over the phone—or whatever he had wrong with him—I would have surely been infected immediately.
 
So yes, our son now has a dental plan that he can use in the future, but then it dawned on me, what about a vision plan?
 
I did some research, and found that the federal government has its own supplemental plan for disabled Medicate recipients called FIDA-IDD. It appears to be a supplement designed specifically for such people, and it may provide us with something that might fit our son’s needs.
 
I will have to call them later today to find out more, but it does include dental and vision coverage, as well as some other perks designed specifically for people like our son … at least I think it does, but I will call to ascertain this a little bit later.
 
So perhaps this never-ending story finally has a conclusion, but I have to put at least a foot in the water to find out if this is the right solution, or if I have to move on to something else.
 
If I have learned one thing since I lost my job more than two years ago, it is this: when it comes to help, whether it be related to employment, retirement or health insurance, you are just about completely on your own here.
 
You must do all the leg work, the grunt work, the work that was taken care of when you were fully employed and that you did not have to bother with.
 
It is completely on your head now, and without persistence, you will never get what you are supposed to be getting.
 
I remember that when I was in the middle of the Part B mess with our son, someone I spoke to on the phone told me that nobody really is fully conversant on the insurance laws right now, so yes, you have to be on your own toes when it comes to getting what you fully deserve in your specific situation.
 
I have found that out the hard way, but maybe now, after I make this call today, I can take a really deep breath and jump right into that water, and really relax while I wade in that water without having to worry about my personal “Jaws” anymore.
 
Is this simply a dream or is it something that can be done?
 
I just don’t know yet, I just don’t know.