I can’t believe it! They paid!

A few weeks ago, I had a doctor’s appointment. It was a long distance trip and required me to contact my insurance company for approval. I did everything according to protocol. I got a confirmation code. I thought I was set to go.

The day before my appointment, I was called and told my insurance was not going to reimburse for the visit. I was devastated. I explained I had done EVERYTHING I was supposed to have done AND had a confirmation code. I talked to a supervisor. I was told to call back in the morning.

Before my appointment, I called my insurance company. I again was told they were not going to reimburse for the visit. I went around and around with the company. I was told to call back in an hour when a case manager would be available.

I called back in an hour. I talked to another representative. She told me she could approve the trip. She gave me a confirmation number.

I went to my appointment.

At the end of October, a statement was sent out. It showed all the appointments which were approved. There were visits from September and October. My long distance appointment was absent from the list. I was heart-broken as I saw the date the invoice was sent out was a week after my doctor’s visit. I figured the trip must have been denied.

Today, in the mail, there was an envelope from my insurance company. Inside there was a notice the long distance appointment was approved and was going to be reimbursed. I hugged the letter and profusely thanked God.

After all the trouble I went through, in the end, the doctor’s visit is going to be paid. I cannot tell you how happy I am!

Thanksgiving. Just another day to try to get caught up

I see social media posts of people preparing for Thanksgiving. Homes are being cleaned and food is accumulating in the fridge and pantry waiting for tomorrow’s big showcase. For me, I am not able to eat most Thanksgiving food. In fact, the fridge is rather bare. I need groceries. But that task will have to wait.

In the meantime, I have a mountain of YouTube things which need to be done. My computer desktop is almost full to the brim with incomplete projects—scripts which need to be written, films which need editing, videos which need thumbnails, etc. My goal is to get my computer desktop cleaned off. I am not sure that will happen yet this week as things keep interrupting my schedule such as naps and much needed breaks.

To everyone who will be enjoying a day of feasting with family and friends, may it be a day full of gratitude and thanks. If you need me, I will either be sleeping or frantically trying to get a YouTube project done.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Two Stickers for You!

Last week, there was an election in our area. I love voting because it makes me feel important. I usually early vote. However, since this was not a major election, the early voting locations were limited. The place where I usually vote was not included in the early voting. The closest early voting location was about 15 minutes away. I decided to just wait until voting day to cast my ballot because then the voting place right down the road from me would be open.

Where I vote, there is an option to stay in the car and call a number. A poll worker will come to the car, take your identification and go inside to register you. The person then looks up your information and selects the correct ballot. The person comes back out to the car and waits for the person to fill out the ballot. The polling person then goes inside to cast the ballot. The process takes about 15 minutes when no one else is voting. If there are people voting, you have to wait because there are not enough poll workers to man both the inside and curbside voting.

Since it was 5:30 in the evening when I went to vote, and the polling location was busy with voters, I decided to vote inside.

When I arrived inside, the poll workers were surprised to see me because I usually stay in the car to voter. The process went smoothly. There were two people in front of me in line, but soon I had my ballot and was able to vote.

When I placed my ballot into the ballot box, one poll worker was very upset I came inside. He said, “We are here to serve you. Please let us serve you. You can stay in the car. We will take the ballot out to you”

He asked if he could help me to the car. I declined the help as he was needed inside. As I was leaving, there was a table of stickers.

I asked, “Can I get a sticker?”

The man said, “You can have two stickers!”

I was very excited and happily took the two stickers the man placed in my hand.

Ah, the sweet reward for coming inside to vote. Two stickers!

Facebook Censored: Social Media Debacle

On Sunday, I attempted to post a YouTube video on my Facebook page. I was alerted Facebook deemed the video as containing false information. They gave me three sources which disputed my video.

Two articles appeared to be about the ongoing conflict with the largest land mass country in the world and its neighbor. One other source was an article about things happening in a tiny country on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

I cannot tell you the names of the places because everything is run through artificial intelligence, and I do not want to have any more of my social media accounts censored.

(Let me pause here and tell you the video labeled as containing false information is completely an opinion video. It is on the topic of 15 things I wish I would have been told after getting a tracheostomy tube. There should be no “false information” in this video. Furthermore, I have absolutely ZERO references to anything discussed in the “source” articles.)

People complained to me they could not see my video because Facebook was blocking them from using the link to access the YouTube video.

So, I created another post explaining that Facebook said my video had false information. I was able to give the link in a different format, and people were able to watch the video.

I thought I would let people know on my different platforms about the absurdity Facebook was placing on my YouTube video. Well, that went unexpectedly poorly!!! People unsubscribed from my channel and unfollowed me on social media because if Facebook says my video contains false information, then it must be true!!!

I am a little bit shocked by this social media debacle. But I guess I have learned my lesson. Be careful telling people you have been censored.

Student loans. The fight which never ends

Many years ago, I decided to continue my education and attend graduate school. I needed student loans to pay for this education. While going to school, I became very sick. I had to drop out. Soon, my student loans were in repayment. After depleting my savings to make loan payments, I discovered there was an income-based repayment program.

 It has been a frequent fight to get my student loans on an income-based repayment plan. I cannot tell you how much stress I have been through trying to get paperwork sorted out and submitted on time over many years.

Thankfully, things have finally been stream-lined. I only have to submit one application a year (instead of three separate applications at three different times during the year to go to three different lenders). I just have to keep track of one application and make sure the application is sent to all three lenders. I then have to wait to hear back from the three lenders if they received the application in their system. I then have to follow up that the correct repayment plan has been applied to my account.

Things became haywire when the government stepped in and paused payments. I needed to re-certify my loans, but the financial institutes would not accept the income-based repayment application because the loans were not in repayment. Despite this, I continued to apply for an income-based repayment program.

In October, loan repayment resumed. Two of my lenders applied my income-based repayment plan. One lender, however, did not. The amount I owe per month is nearly my entire monthly income.

I spent almost an hour on hold this morning. I explained to the woman I am on an income-based repayment plan. The woman said she saw in the system I was on an income-based repayment plan. The amount owed was the amount which was calculated from the income-based repayment plan. I explained, the amount owed is nearly my entire monthly income. This is not an income-base repayment.

Furthermore, I have loans at two other lenders. I am on the same repayment program. Because my income is very low, my repayment is zero dollars. The woman said she would investigate. While waiting on a hold, the call disconnected.

I called back again. This time, the wait was over an hour. The second representative said my payment plan was based on 2021 taxes. My taxable income was $0 in 2021. The woman looked at my income-based repayment application from this year which had my taxes from 2022. Again, my taxable income was $0. The woman told me I needed to have my income recalculated.

(I remained silent. but I wanted to say, “Recalculated? My taxable income went form $0 to $0. There is nothing to ‘recalculate’ My income has not changed. And if my repayment is based on 2021 taxes, how can a person owe anything when his taxable income is zero dollars?”)

The woman submitted a “recalculated” income-based repayment request. The preliminary feedback was that I would owe $0. However, the application has to be processed by the company. It will take “hopefully” less than 2 months to process. In the meantime, my loans will be placed on a 2 month administrative forbearance. This means, for the next two months, my repayments will be paused. If my loan repayments are not recalculated by December 24, I will once again be issued a bill and will have to make a massive payment.

The repayment will be due on January 14, 2024. Ironically, the next time I can re-certify my income-based repayment plan is on January 14, 2024.

 

Oh the headaches of having student loans!