Our tax dollars at work, Small rant.

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323,783 people are living in my county here in Pennsylvania. And just one person to call for Medicare assistance program help.

Yea. Just one, O.. leave your name and number and we will call you back, sometime.


UGH. I did college, a full-time job, and photography. This is more work and stress than both of them

Reason number one is why I always have candy on my desk when dealing with these people

Stressed spelled backward is Desserts and they make getting through this crap a bit better.

 

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I have an advantage plan with Blue Cross so I call them. If you are on straight Medicare, have you gone to Medicare.gov and signed up? You might get your question answered there or find a national phone number to call. Don’t know why you’d have to call a county site, but I’m not an expert on Medicare. Good luck.

 

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@cyclist

I have a part D plan. Medicare doesn't know who within my state is paying for it. I am not. They are having me reach out to PA MEDI which is medicare help here in pa. But there is only one person who coordinates that program for my county.

 

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Why don’t you try calling a Medicaid office in a bigger city, like your state capital? Write to your senators. Or better yet, move to a city where you can finally get the medical care and subsidized housing that you deserve? With the complexity and enormity of your medical conditions, you deserve to be living MUCH closer to a massive hospital that can provide EVERY kind of surgery and care, not two hours away from such a hospital. When you choose to live in the middle of rural nowhere, you choose to have access to very limited government and medical resources.

I know this very well myself because for two years of my life, I chose to live in the second least populated county in the contiguous United States, Inyo County in California. I lived in the town of Mammoth Lakes, California with a resident population population of just 4,000 to 6,000 people depending on the time of year. We were pretty much the only people living in that huge county because the county is full of multiple national parks where nobody can live. Accordingly, there was no rehab hospital you could go to if you totaled your body while snowboarding. You had to drive all the way to Reno, Nevada or Los Angeles to get that kind of care. You couldn’t even get married there because there was no government entity in existence to provide the marriage licenses.

Now *I* made the choice to live in Mammoth; nobody forced me to. And then *I* made the choice to leave, partly because of the same problems you’re having. My knees and back were starting to need constant attention and there weren't any medical professionals in Mammoth to take care of my health needs. Also, I was unable to find a job there. So I left!

Similarly, only *you* are making the choice to live where you live now. *You* could choose to leave. But if you’re going to stay, there are certain things you have to accept, like not being able to get the Medicaid answers you want. And then you have to quit complaining about that, too.

What would you think if I lived in Mammoth and was complaining all the time that I couldn’t get a marriage license with my husband? You’d tell me to move to another town/county where I could get what I want and need, right? What would you tell me to do if I was on this forum complaining all the time that were no back doctors for 220 miles around even though I really needed one - you’d tell me to move to where the doctors are, right? So I think you need to move to a real city with real medical care and real access to government services since you depend on both of those things entirely.

Also, your health situation is going to continue to decline the longer you stay in that small town. I don’t think there’s much hope for your improvement if you stay there. Maybe you can come back to that little town eventually, but I think for now you better get to a bigger city. Or, you need to accept your fate where you live and quit complaining about the lack of services there.

 

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@ThatFLGuy : When you signed up for Part D, didn’t they ask you to pick an insurer to provide coverage.

 

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I was in a unique situation when I got Medicare. All the Covid rules for Medicaid were ending and they had to start my changeover early because of when I got my social security.

I did not do any of the sign-ups for my medical care.

Medicare feels that I should qualify for Medicaid but it is up to my county to decide that and moving somewhere else is not an option or I would have done it already.

I get $1286 for Social Security.

My rent is $600 ($75 lower than comps in my area for the same square footage)
I get help with my gas heat and $206 in food stamps

I am out of pocket $135+ each month for Diapers and other needs.

By the time all of my bills and needs are paid, I have $30-$40 left at the end of the month.

Even where I live now requires the first month's rent, a security deposit of one month's rent, and PROOF OF INCOME EQUAL TO THREE TIMES THE RENT. That is the normal anywhere anymore. My rent has not gone up in a while but it should be $50-75 more.


NOW. Here is the issue. Pennsylvania has its own medicare exchange. Our Mediciaid is dictated by your county. You call DHS they transfer you to your county assistance office based on your ID and records. Medicare knows that I am getting extra help from someone paying for my Part D plan but they do not know who. If I had Medicaid back this would not be an issue I would sign up for whatever plan worked for me and Medicaid would pay whatever I cannot.
The big issue.
Medicaid is all I need to get better care.
I am stuck without it. I am at the whim of the hospital that I go to because I have financial assistance from them, Which they bill Medicaid for.

This surgery last month that I had would have required a $1600 deposit at the very hospital where I got it done. That was pre-paid before even setting up the surgery at one of the best hospitals in my state.

 

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If you lived in a bigger city with public housing, you wouldn’t be paying for your housing at all!

 

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@snow

I hear you. I do, but there are issues with my state that do not apply everywhere else. You cannot just call another county for help.

In Pennsylvania, HUD is issued by county. I live in Luzerne County.
Danville Pa. where I am stuck going to the hospital for now is in Montour County just 28.6 miles from me.

The list for Hud in Luzerne County is at over 3,500. You have to get on the list first here in Pa. to get selected. The list for Montour County is over 10 thousand.

Now, My parents are landlords in both Luzerne and Montour County. They sometimes have open apartments. I even know the HUD secretaries for both counties by name, and have their direct phone numbers for helping my parents with stuff when they are out of town or on vacation. I cannot even jump on the list faster than waiting for my turn. I am on the list for my county.

Even if my parents let me live there for free it doesn't fix the issue of not having Medicaid and getting someone on the phone within my county to tell me/prove to me that I do not qualify.

I have done the whole reached out to the state, other counties, and even our federal government about this and they all say that they feel that it is a mess up within my county by the Rep who did my account set up. You have read my rants about that. I should have heard back from her last week which is why I am doing what I am today.

As for true Public housing, it is not nor will ever be an option for me.

Hud I could do and I am working on it but it is a process here in Pa.

As for moving to a bigger city. The Carlino Family Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Penn State Health is only two hours from me. That is where I went for my second opinion. They have the same issue, they are busy and I need someone with a very high level of specialty on my case. And where I go now actually has more PA-C and Certified nurse practitioners in the GI office but again they are busy.

My colorectal surgeon has to see me within two weeks of a call per hospital policy, but GI gets away with not even setting appointments up for a year. That is the issue everywhere in Pa.

If I could snap my fingers and change everything then I would. Or move back to Florida with family until I get this figured out I would. But it does not fix the issue of not having Medicaid to pay for what I cannot.

Coming on here and complaining, talking, and asking for advice is what this forum is for if its not. Then get the admin to let me know and I will see myself out.

 

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I understand about lists for public housing. We have the same issue here where you have to wait to get on the waitlist for at least 3-4 years, then it takes another 3-4 years to actually get the housing; soooooo ridiculous. We have a really high per-capita rate of homelessness and a major lack of affordable housing. My rent in UT has more than doubled in 10 years; it’s way worse than L.A. The rent at my old apartment in L.A. has only gone up $400 in the past 10 years. I should have stayed there! My rent there was $1,700. When I moved here, I paid $1,400 for less square footage. Now the same place here costs $3,000+HOA+utilities. It’s really hard as a single female to pay that on top of my medical costs which come to an average of $1,300/month.

Well, it really is a mess you’re in. I wish you could move to FL, too.