January 6, 2010

Functional




Pulley on the Star of India, 2007. (For a while the photos may not go with the text.)




Himself: Put up with me on the phone all morning. Job hunting, shopping, dinner, watched “Australia.”

Herself: Phone, lunch, shopping, dinner, left the incredibly endless movie in the middle and went upstairs to read.

Reading: Cadell.

Balance: Reading.

T’was the day to tackle the dentist.

First, why not find out what dental coverage I had locally. Mine didn’t take this new insurance. So I called the insurance company. That’s logical. Sensible. Functional even.

I didn’t have dental insurance, said the nice young man.

“I did,” I told him. “Would you like to know the name of the service agent I talked to on November 26?”

He didn’t.

Here in the quiet of my computer room, I had steam coming out of my ears. G said I sounded very as if I knew what I was talking about, but, in reality, I was very frustrated and angry.

After half an hour of struggle trying to sign me up for the dental insurance option and find me a dentist, the nice young man said his computer had crashed and to please call back in an hour. He closed with the usual, “Thanks for calling Non-functional Insurance Centre” and have a good day. I wasn’t actually.

So I called back right away, the next young man said I did have the dental option now. Was his computer crashed, I asked. Not at all, he said. Gave me a number to call to find a dentist in my area too. That was nice, I told him, and was the insurance premium being deducted from my Social Security.

Ah, another hour or so of frustration. No, he too didn’t want the name of any of the agents I talked with since November…or the Supervisors. No, only if I signed this and that and this too could they deduct the insurance payments from my SS. We now have a coupon book.

After lunch, G hugged me and took me to Amvets where I found a lovely lime green dress jacket. Jazz up that black on black, indeed. Functional.

5 comments:

  1. Hi, Maggie, and happy new year. I hope you find a good dentist. Wouldn't it be a wonderful world without insurance companies?

    How I would love to have a lime green jacket

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  2. I can certainly empathize with your phone frustration. I find I have to gear up for making any phone calls to large companies. Very aggravating; don't let them get you.

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  3. Mage, I'll be interested to see how that dental insurance works out. We bought a plan initially and before the appointment with our dentist learned that the cost without the insurance plan would actually cost less. So we canceled the dental insurance and now pay out of pocket. Insurance is such a bother.

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  4. that anonymous was me. The browser was in too big a hurry!

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  5. We have a dental plan but no dentists in our area take it! Right now we go to a dentist we like and we have worked out a deal where we pay 40% and the insurance pays 60%...hubby just got a crown yesterday and I was afraid to ask how much it was going to cost us!

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