Progress on My New Life

Posted on December 14, 2022December 10, 2022 by Dusty Roads

Making Progress

Isn’t it amazing how much progress you can make when given the right information? I finally got the information on COBRA from my former employer, a month to the day after they laid me off. Plus it was 18 pages of small print! My company insurance ended 11/30 so I’ve been uninsured since then. That can get expensive fast as I just had to pay full price for 2 prescriptions. They came to almost $350.00.

Medicare

I have Medicare Part A. I’ve had that since I turned 65 but I never added anything else since I had insurance through my employer. I got laid off in the middle of “Open Enrollment” so there were a lot of resources out there. Each one gave you different advice/information. I did learn that I had to add Part B before I could get in an Advantage Plan. Thus began a frustrating quest to get signed up for Part B.

The advice was to sign up online. One advisor even walked me through the links to get to the application. No luck. They system said my information on file was different from what I entered. That was the last straw. I took myself down to our local Social Security office and got in line.

Social Security

The wait turned into 2 hours for about 10 minutes with the social security representative. My meeting was quick because she just told me I couldn’t sign up online and handed me a form that my (former) employer had to complete stating they had been providing insurance and the effective dates. So It’s back to Redfin again. Until I get that Part B coverage . No Advantage yet.

The Form

I must give credit where credit is due. Redfin set up a “Transitional Assistance Team” and provided an email, I sent the form to that email and got an immediate response. They sent to the Benefits Team. I expected that to take a few days but no, they got the completed form to me the same day! I printed it out sent it off to Social Security immediately. Fingers crossed they are quick.

COBRA

It all depends on how quick Social Security moves but if they get me my new card, I can select just dental coverage through COBRA and keep that a couple of months while we finish up my implants. By being able to select the coverage I want it becomes much more affordable.

Life Insurance

I never considered Life Insurance as I had plenty through my work. Now I had none and being old and diabetic made me high risk. You’d think I was going to die tomorrow! After collecting my denial letters I lowered my expectations and picked up a small policy to cover burial/ cremation expenses. No memorial service, no urn. My poor family will get handed a baggie of cinders.

Still to Do

The insurance was the BIG item on my list but the only other thing I can think of is to close out my 401K. There’s not much in there as I’d shifted my attention to buying stock. My investment (Stock) account, which was my retirement, has to sit until the stock market recovers. I kept investing even as the stock price fell because you buy low and sell high. Right? I’m optimistic about the future of that account once this recession is past.

The Insurance Jungle

Posted on January 25, 2014January 25, 2014 by Dusty Roads

About a week ago we had the 2013 wrap up meeting in Somerville at the main Boston Office. What that means is I get to drive 51 miles each way to hear how we did and hope for some insights on what’s to come in 2014. Being a work from home employee, my attendance is optional but I am a nosy employee. I want to hear from the horses mouth what’s projected for the coming year. I don’t want to hear all the speculation and innuendo when the meeting results gets rehashed over the email water cooler.

So as a dutiful, nosey employee I made my way (1.5 hours) to the Somerville office via the central artery, the expressway, the “distressway” , Route 93, or any and all of the above, They are all names for the same stretch of highway H_ _ L.

Following the meeting and a nice lunch (I really go for the free food)

I headed back to repeat the process. It was about 2:15-2:30 when I left. That’s slightly ahead of rush hour. (in theory) . Traffic wasn’t too bad as I entered the tunnel to the southern side of the artery but it was filling in fast. I’d almost made it to what they call the Braintree Split when it happened.

I have no idea what actually triggered the accident.

There was a large truck to my right with a brown SUV behind it. I was in the next lane, a travel lane with cars in front and in back and the next lane to my left was also filled with cars.

Traffic was moving probably 30-40 miles per hour. A good clip for the volume. A lot of jockeying goes on here as the right hand lanes try to get to the left side for RT 3 and those on the left try to cross to the right for Rt. 128.

Suddenly I heard things flying and then something shook my car. I didn’t know if I had damage or not but plastic stuff was still flying around so I pulled over. The Brown SUV had hit the left rear of the box truck and the force of that hit bounced him into my car. His SUV was a mess. The truck had only slight damage. My car has a superficial scrape and the passenger mirror was knocked off. It will still cost a bundle to be repainted.

I called 911 and the state police responded right away.

My car was drivable so after an exchange of insurance cards I was on my way, “collateral damage” to the main even between the SUV and the truck. Thus entering the INSURANCE JUNGLE.

My first call was to my insurance carrier to put them on notice. My intention was to go through the SUV’s carrier. First I got a call from the “adjuster” from my company. Then I got a call from the “Liability Adjuster” from my insurance carrier. He took a statement and told me they would pay the whole claim and to go ahead and get the ball rolling with the body shop.

The body shop said “Whoa, not so fast. They won’t pay the deductible.” I said yes, the adjuster said they would because it wasn’t my fault. Then I got another call from someone else …again from my company…who confirmed that they would pay the deductible and “subrogate” from the other carrier.

Today I took my car for an estimate. The body shop will send the estimate in to the company and then we’ll wait for approval to go forward. I still haven’t heard from the other insurance company. In the meantime, duct tape fixes anything. 🙂

Cat Trees and other headaches

Posted on July 20, 2011July 20, 2011 by Dusty Roads

The bank gave me my wake-up call. It seems that someone tried to put through a charge of $85.00. It was a company that is marked on the bank’s security rolls as a fraudulent company. These people had tried to put through the charge 8 times and so far the bank had blocked it.

The security officer said that sooner or later it would slip through. Since I had never heard of the company and hadn’t ordered anything for $80 anywhere recently, they will have to cancel my card.

Why do things like this aways happen right before vacation?

Well the bank officer had a solution. She said she would Fedex my new card to my local branch and I could pick it up there. She said it should be there Wednesday.

So the bottom line is that it does not appear that I was “targeted” nor is there any relation to my blog. It’s all just a big coincidence.

I expect the bulk of my day will be taken up with more errands and housework although I have one project that I’ve been delaying that I want to to complete. The restoration of the CAT TREE.

Cat trees used to be fairly inexpensive but not anymore. A small one is easily in the $100-$200 range and can go up from there. My cats have a pretty good-sized cat tree that I got a few years ago for $45.00. The problem is that it’s been shredded to pieces. In many places it’s been scratched right down to the frame.

I have spent a couple of months looking for a replacement both in stores and online but anything in the $50.00 range is either way to fragile for my scratching fiend or very small.

My solution is that I’m going to try to restore the cat tree. In theory it shouldn’t be a big job. In actuality I’ve found excuse after excuse to avoid tackling the project but I think I have everything here just waiting so the time has come.

Well I just spent an hour trying to wrap the scratching post in sisal rope. I managed to get 1 post done..a small post. The staple gun won’t go through to the wood so I ended up strategically placing screws. I don’t want to use too many screws as that might hurt the cat. So I think I’ll wait and see if they use it and if so, will my amateur efforts hold up to kitty abuse.

I really don’t have time to spend another hour right now so that will have to do for starters. I need to run down to a local insurance agent to get an insurance stamp for the DMV so I can renew my auto registration. Of course the agency is charging a $15.00 administrative fee for the 2 minutes it will take to stamp the registration form. No such thing as Professional Courtesy anymore. It doesn’t matter that I am insured with a company they represent. I didn’t buy the policy through them so that gives them the right to charge a fee for doing nothing. Makes me think of that Southwest Airlines commercial where the SW employees are jurors and another airline is “on trial” for charging administrative fees to change a ticket. Oh well, I guess that’s the world we live in today. I’m becoming very cynical. It just seems that everything you do today has “hidden fees”. We’re being nickel and dimed to death.

It probably wouldn’t bother me except that I’m trying to hang onto my funds so I can have a little extra cash for vacation and it feels like everything is conspiring against that goal. It also bothered me because the other agency that I have used in the past wouldn’t take a fee even when I offered. I didn’t go there because this new one was much closer. Next time I may go back to driving to RI for my insurance stamp.

Well that about wraps up the day. Heading off to visit some friends for dinner. Until tomorrow, have a good day!