2022-10-25 - 8:16 a.m.

Thank the Lord the SECOND 1-800 number given to file a weekly CLAIM actually worked.

Honestly if it did not I was about to go all out in calling attention to the VEC craziness.

I was ready to not threaten to go to the press but just actually DO IT.

I don't use scare tactics.
I just act.

WHOO HOO

I finally got the damn claim for week of Sept. 24th.

The person , Miguel, who helped UNLOCK my account instructed me to file one weekly claim a day.

They have to process the info I was finally able to input and THEN the system will allow the next weekly claim to be filed.

So I have to wait til tomorrow to take care of the LAST week of SEPT.

Then the next day for the first week of OCT etc... and then Friday for 2nd week of OCT
and then next MON can try to catch up further.

This is ridiculous in and of itself. I have to call EVERY DAY. AT LEAST I now have a number that WORKED and gave me the right promts and allowed filing.

Progress I suppose.

Off to navigate bill payments.

So my kid is not left with crappy Credit before even working.

The kid was looking at used cars at the local car dealer. The kid is working with the DAR Office and our local workforce development office. (I don't live in Winchester to the one I drove about and hr to get to. That office HAPPENES to be a VEC location which is why I did my job hunting from there.)
MY KID has been to our local office. (I have as well as they do have a job posting board worth looking at. It does have really good jobs posted for professionals. I mean like the 100K plus a year program management role that was listed there last week when we stopped by there!)

I get so fucking frustrated as the ONLY fucking time I EVER lie in response to those questions is the answer to
"HOW many jobs have you applied to."

I say two or three.
It is ALWAYS Every week at least twice but often THREE times that but with the precarious system that goes down and disconnects at any mistake

this is one time
GOOD enough is the guiding rule.

Get the claim in! Don't be a purist and insist on that one question being 100% accurate as that created increased liklihood of being unsuccessful. Increased likelihood of me losing a data point... losing my place when reading my emails from the job hunting folder. Getting confused "Do I list the recruiter working with or list the client they submitted my resume to?? " Etc....

More touch points mean more likely errors.

Well it is 8:25 and that task done today. I can let go of the anger that was building from frustration and keep on keeping on.
Maybe I will have stuff in my attic to decorage my car for a Halloween thing my church is doing. Yesterday the neighbors were all outside chatting and hanging. I am very grateful that we have some really nice neighbors here and a bunch really have made connections and become friends.

Before my meeting last night for the arts org I took Bellatrix for a walk and it was so lovely out. All the neighbors from four houses in a row were outside visiting with each other as the little kids from two of their families were playing.
The one family had gone to a farm apple picking and had a basket of apples and shared with us all.

It was just SO LOVELY. The one mom is a nurse and the loveliest person. She and her husband take turns watching the kids and they occassionally hire a sitter as well. If my kids had ANY INTEREST In babysitting they could! She has asked. I can't even get my kids to come outside to meet the neighbors and mingle a bit.

But the one kid did tell me they took a walk and saw the used car dealership and has interest in learning to drive a stick shift and set a goal of getting job and saving enough to buy a used car. I did get a good review from one neighbor who bought a used car from that local shop.
Sounds like a good plan! Happy this kid is motivated and setting goals and confident my kid too , like me will eventually land the right fit for them!

Every step is moving forward..
so off to navigate bills. Today have to be sure our insurance is paid and active as next step and pay freaking $5 a month on each medical bill to avoid collection! My nice neighbor mentioned that when I was chatting with her. YUP ! That is the way to do it. Its been a while since I worked as a bill collector and advised poor folks on that trick.
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
If you pay monthly and tell them not to call, bill collectors MAY NOT call you to harass. They have to accept your minimal payments and suck it up til you can pay in full or settle in full. Settling in Full is the BEST plan when really hit a hard time and are not able to pay outstanding debts. I prefer to land work and pay all obligations cause I am confident I can eventually. BUT that was NOT the case with the crazy legal fees from divorce! Eventually I would have but it would have taken freaking years so I did Settle some of those debts in full to be done with them way back when.

Kinda happy to now have to drive today and get my shit done from home.

Tomorrow I have a Dr. Appt. My good OB/GYN is going to biopsy one of the fibroids found.

One last rant before I tend to my to do:
Insurance companies are wacked.
We all know this-
BUT it is just FUCKED UP that Medical insurance would say when ask if a procedure is covered:

"If the test comes up negative then YES as it is preventative care; But if they find anything then no as it becomes diagnositic."

What the fuck is that?
Just absolutely illogical.

Medical insurance will cover the same damn procedure as routine essential care as preventatively it makes good sense to provide precentative care.

BUT if the sceening FINDS something they are THEN going to not pay for that procedure already done?

That is so messed up.

And NO they should NOT be able to do that, The cost of the fucking procedure is the SAME whether the reviewer finds something or not.
It didn't require any ADDITIONAL LABOR or EFFORT or WORK or TOOLS be used/expended when the technician who is looking at results of a procedure

note if they SEE something as opposed to seeing NOTHING.

I mean they still have to look and note what they find.

Are they really going to argue that the discernment of mental processing that YEAH i see a thing and now I am taking the extra minute to measure it and write down its existance
is such added effort to justify the procedure suddently NOT being covered? Like that effort was so expensive and burdensome ?

NO Insurance companies are just WACKED and SELFISHLY Are trying to get OUT of obligations of providing preventative care.
It is just BULLSHIT.

So I also have a bill from the procedure of taking images my Dr. ordered , cause the images did discover fibroids and an ovarian cyst.
The good news is 25% of women have fibroids and they are most often benign.

Good to know.
I had one friend who was sure she had cancer when she had them. She was so dramatic about it and I was concerned for her as she was upset there was no follow up and she did not understand why. Now I understand as they are really common and low risk.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/uterine-fibroids/symptoms-causes/syc-20354288

I just have a really good doctor who in my case, because of irregular and heavy bleeding, wants to do a biopsy to ensure I am NOT one of the few anomolies.

I am rather sure I am not and that all is OK.

But tomorrow is the follow up just to be sure.
And unfortunately I have a $600 + ( forget exact amt- around $650 ish) bill to pay for that imaging that my Doctor ordered that I was told "is covered if they don't find anything."

The most ludicrous thing heard next to "we don't provide coverage for gender dysphoria diagnosis" from Anthem.
But otherwise Anthem WILL cover routine blood work.

Still have not heard further from anyone on that matter which is in queue with Office of Civil Rights as active claim of discimination.

I wonder if someone could bring a claim of discrimination based on BEING POOR.
I swear I think that is the OVERARCHING discriminiation most of all. Insurance companies set up policies for poor (working poor, even middle class who own their own businesses) but then find Every excuse possible to not follow through on actually providing coverage.

I don't know that they do this to the AVG Consumer. I would find it intereting to see WHAT information insurance companies share with each other ( They have consent to share info and shared databases about consumers) and HOW MUCH ones INCOME impacts how they treat their consumers.
Do they provide better service; and denials of service based on assumptions of someonese ability to pay-
which in fact would have a deleterious affect of INCREASING medical bills for the poorest
BUT do they APPROVE Coverages based on credit worthiness of those better off?

I am very suspisious there may be some correlaton somply as I have had employer purchased policies for years and then in contrast the awful coverage and awful administrarion and experiences challenges with the policy bought on the Markektplace.

BUT maybe it is just ANTHEM IS AWFUL and not that all insurers are treating comsumers differently based on credit worthiness or identity.

Would be fasincting to find out. I mean when one purchases a policy I would think the coverage would be the SAME for all equivalent policies and the SAME for all consumers of such. I don't feel like that has been the case in my family's experience so something is fundamentally just wrong about their process.

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