Today, I received a call from Debra Long, the Medicare rep from Dallas, who apologized up and down and said that she would try to straighten everything out for me. According to Debra, Medicare "auto-enrolled" all "dual" (meaning Medicare AND Medicaid) recipients up for a drug plan on October 13. Not wanting to show favoritism to one plan, it was a random selection for each recipient. Turns out my Mam-ma's plan was Pacificare, which is not a good plan for her, because it won't co-pay on her most expensive medication (and who knows which others!). When I was first allowed to sign up for something online - on November 15, I chose CignatureRx. This should have "overwritten" the enrollment in Pacificare, but it didn't. Debra says this happened a lot! She assured me she would work with Medicare's representative for CignatureRx to get this all fixed.
About an hour later, I got another call from Dallas -- from Donna Kyle, who is the Arkansas Representative for Medicare. She also apologized up and down, and she reiterated that Debra and she were working with the right reps to contact CignatureRx and get this fixed. She also said, "I just want to tell you that I read your letter to the Governor (much of what was posted here yesterday in this blog), and I have forwarded it on to several people, because it was the most detailed, easy-to-read and understand, well-organized chronology of events as they happened to a real person, and I felt others needed to see a firsthand account of what is undoubtably happening over and over again across the country." She was so nice, and she said that she had personally experienced difficulty signing up her own parents -- "and I work for Medicare!" She ended by giving me her direct telephone number, spelling her name again, and telling me NOT to worry -- that she would see that this was resolved and proper coverage was given and continued. She and Debra both assured me that someone from their office would keep in contact to let me know how this progresses.
So, I'm waiting for that call, but I feel a lot better. Maybe things will go better for the next person, and maybe this will help Medicare get their act together, and MAYBE this is going to soon be OVER for me and my Mam-ma!!! Yippeeee!!!!
