As if there wasn’t enough to do, my move made Kaiser Permanente move – move to cancel my insurance. Isn’t bureaucracy grand? You don’t have to answer that. Their move makes some sense, I guess. I moved to an area they don’t cover, so they can’t cover me, so they canceled my coverage. Surprise! Time to get new coverage. STAT. I think I did it, but I have doubts.

Welcome to Port Townsend, yet another tourist town and not far from where I lived since 2005, Whidbey Island. One ferry ride away – and be prepared for cancellations. I’m guessing that most moves mean many of the same things for many people: lots of change of address forms, arranging for new services, getting familiar with where, what, and when things are available. Same here. Two months into the move, and I’ve filled out lots of those forms, and am not done yet. And then I went to the doctor.

I say doctor, but I probably should be more specific and say naturopath. Traditional services created and then perpetuated the conditions that have spawned over a decade of anxiety attacks. I’m not going to describe what, how, and when they did the things they did because – get this logic – it could trigger another anxiety attack. One of the reasons for the move was to get healthier financially, as well as healthier in all other ways, too. That’s why one of the things I’ve already done is to say thank you and good-bye to a marvelous naturopath on Whidbey, Dr. Molly Fox, and begin working with Dr. Rosalie De Lombaert near downtown Port Townsend (on the waterfront, cool.) Both are good folks, or at least they put up with me.

The precipitating episode ensues. Prepare for serendipity, or at least synchronicity.

I was sitting in my car just after my first long session with Dr. Rosalie. (She types fast! And I gave her lots to type about. Hey, I’m 65. My body has been through a lot.) Even before I start the car, I get a call. Is it from Dr. Rosalie’s assistants about some form? No. By chance, it is someone at my previous insurance company, Kaiser Permanente, calling me about refreshing a prescription. Do I want to do so? Sure. Oh, by the way, I have a new address. Please mail it there. Fine. No problem. OK. That’s taken care of.

About 90 seconds after I hang up, I get another call. KP (because I’m getting tired of typing Kaiser Permanente) calls back with a short message. Because I moved, my insurance will be canceled on the last day of the month, about ten days away. Erp. Eep. Uh oh? I’m on Medicare. Doesn’t that make a difference? (By the way, bows to the poor caller from KP. It was her first week. They were coping with the Blue Screen Of Death syndrome, and I think I was her first cancellation. She was somewhat traumatized and stressed. What a way to start a job.)

I hadn’t even left the parking lot, and my medical world had changed.

Long-time readers will know that I Do Not Like forms, or bureaucracies, especially medical ones. Ugh. Where’s my anxiety medication? Oh, right, I need more of that.

One distinction I’ve learned to make is that insurance isn’t care. For years, I’ve dealt directly with providers as much as possible. Doctors and nurses are reasonable and see the direct connection between what they do and what it does. Insurance isn’t care. Insurance may enable care, but it is there to care about the cash primarily. At least, that’s my experience. 

Grumble. Gripe. I still do not understand Medicare. From what I understand, I’m covered by Medicare regardless, but it seems like the system is largely administered and enabled by the insurance companies. I don’t know why health insurance companies are supposed to be better than the government at managing such a system, but I’m guessing lobbyists are involved. 

Ignore grumble and gripe. I’ve got less than two weeks to find something that checks the boxes.

Go online, of course. Medicare, insurance companies, health organizations all have an overwhelmng amount of information, much of which seems redundant. (BTW I mistyped ‘much’ as ‘mush’ and I think describing the info as mush might be appropriate.) For a few days I tried educating myself, again. Nope. I was barely more successful this time as last time, which was only half a year ago. Call for help.

Help! Dr. Rosalie referred me to a well-known firm (hey, they have ads before the movie trailers in the local theater), Kristin Waring. My deadline was July 31. There was a weekend coming up. They could fit me in early July 31. Timely, but without much of a margin.

I’ll skip the suspense and mention that we met, and they did an excellent job (application pending.) I’ll also point out that the move helped manufacture a glitch. It was because of my insurance card and the move.

Lots of legalese flies around insurance, the government, and therefore, healthcare. As I mentioned when I signed up for Medicare, the amount of necessary disclosures, disclaimers, and actual descriptions are overwhelming. From one source alone I received more words than I put into one of my books, and there are mutliple sources. Reading it all would take hours or days. Understanding it could take longer. Comparing the plans could take long, and involve spreadsheets of data. Yeah, help.

Amongst and amidst all of that KP, sent me new cards, probably to reflect existing coverage, a new year, signing up for Medicare, and I don’t know what else. They didn’t all fit in my wallet. They weren’t dated, so I couldn’t tell which was most current, so I guessed and picked one. Months later, here’s the move, that’s the card I have, and it’s the card I relayed to the helpful person at Kristin Waring. 

Wrong card. I found that out an hour or so later when she called to tell me that. I had photos of old cards, but they were probably too old. I might have the newest card, but I’m guessing it is still in a box, on a shelf, in a storage unit – maybe.

Thanks for the help. Where’s that anxiety medication?

No need. I’ll spare you those details too. She resolved everything, but in the meantime and keeping in mind the deadline, I’d called and emailed several sources, as well as scoured my computer files for photos of the cards.

As convoluted as this experience may seem, it is the easiest experience I can recall in years. And this amount of stress is for health care, and one of my major health issues is stress. It is at times like this when I become more of a fan of universal healthcare, even just to eliminate bureaucracy.

From an automated email and one from a real person, I believe I might or at least should have insurance coverage as of August 1, 2024, which is tomorrow as I type. I should get notification of that within a week or so. So, if anything happens within the next week, … I decline to describe such a scenario.

Despite all of this insurance confusion, I am glad that I’ve already arranged for health care that I am willing to pay for out of pocket. Health care is that important to me, and thanks to selling my house, I can afford to pay direct. I have begun working with Dr. Rosalie. I already have a dentist. I have arranged for a mental health counselor (who would’ve been handy, but we haven’t met yet). Vision care will happen, but I’ve been busy. 

I’ll probably wait until I get a new card (hopefully only one is necessary), and then arrange for more sessions. Being poor (from my perspective) for the last several years has been demonstrably unhealthy. I’m 65. I don’t want to wait at getting healthy again. Other luxuries are now affordable, but I can’t think of one that is more valuable.

If all works well, I probably won’t write about it. There’s always other things too. In the meantime, I pause, enjoy the sunshine, and starting making a healthy meal with veggies in it – and a thing or two that the doctor may not approve of. Apologies. It’s been a day, eh?