Back in the states, one of our first priorities was to get insurance. With this little one growing inside of me, we thought it was pretty important to get coverage.

So, we began with medicaid. On Tuesday, when we arrived back in the states, I submitted the application. Since we are living with family, I had to ask them all sorts of personal information to fill out the forms ex. bills, income, social security etc.

By Saturday I had a letter in the mail with our case number saying to call Monday through Friday between 10 am and 4 pm for my clearance interview. The catch, I had to contact them by Oct. 5th or else my application would be disregarded. Beginning Monday morning, Adam and I have been calling non-stop and only get connected to a busy signal. (Today is already the 3rd)

My mother suggested that we call out county congressman and ask for help. When I called his office, his very nice secretary said she would put a call into DCF (The Department of Children and Families) and have them call me. She was super nice, but I am still awaiting the return call.

In the meantime, Adam and I went to the County Clinic for an affordable evaluation and appointment to check on the baby. I am sure everything is fine, but going on week 11 and after traveling for 33 hours, I just wanted the doctor to take a lookie and tell us everything was okay in there.

We drove to Paramore which is the “not so nice part of Orlando.” The women in the office were so kind to me, of course I couldn’t stop my mouth from telling them our whole life story and how all I wanted was the doctor to check on the baby after traveling and blah blah blah. They told us that 1st, seeing the Dr. was by appointment only and they were currently making appointments for Oct. 11th and 2nd, my mailing address was in Seminole Country, not Orange so I needed to go to a different center.

They gave us the phone number for the Seminole County Clinic which is literally 3 miles from where we are staying, not the 25 we drove to downtown. When Adam called to ask about making an appointment (I was driving), they said that I had to wait for the Medicaid to clear before we could come in. Then the conversation went like this:

Adam: So once everything clears I can call back and make an appointment.

Lady: No, she can call. (meaning me, the wife)

Adam hung up and was furious.

Why is it that people can’t be nice when they are lucky enough to have jobs! And anyway, once Medicaid clears, we will be able to see a regular doctor and not have to go to the health center anyway.

So, now we are in limbo. We are waiting for DCF to call us before we can do anything.

Neither Adam nor I have ever had to rely on government support for anything. He didn’t even collect unemployment when Autotrader closed his office. This is the first time we have had to be a part of “the masses” and had to experience just how difficult it is to get something so important accomplished when all of it is out of our control.

 

Filed under: Living in the USA Tagged: Government, Insurance, life, Medicaid, United States