Gonda 7 South

An update from the Urology waiting area at Mayo, Floor 7 South of the
Gonda Building at Mayo. The pathology is behind, so we're waiting a
very long time.

Over the weekend we had a brainstorm: the original Notice of
Termination that was sent to me at my old address should certainly
have been returned back to Hennepin County by now. Shouldn't it just
be sitting in my file or something? Couldn't they just open that
letter and fax it?

So, this morning I called Hennepin County (the people qho administer
my MinnesotaCare case) right at 9am when they opened and waited for an
average wait time: 25 minutes. I talked to Rhea, who was personable. I
left out the bulk of the details, focusing on the fact that I wanted
her to check in my file and see if there was a letter of termination
in there. She put me on hold, did some checking, came back and told me
that it had been faxed out on Friday. This surprised me, since the
number it had been faxed to *was* a fax number that I had given them
on friday, but it was a fax number that they were to send it to when
the new (4th request) Termination Letter came in from the Department
of Health and Human Services in order to expedite it. Bear in mind
that they told me on Friday that it would take two weeks for this
termination letter to come in. Which made me finally decide that that
these people are just totally pulling information out of their as*es.
So anyhow, Rhea tells me they faxed it. We call and check the work fax
at JL's work (office of 5 people) and no fax waiting for her.
So I call back to Henepin County. This time only about a 15 minute
wait on hold. I actually get Rhea again and explain the missing fax.
She mentions that they have 7 days to respond to fax requests, but
that she'll see if she can get it out today. I give her Karen
Wandmacher's fax number at Gallagher. I'm heading out ot town to
Rochester and don't have time to wait by a fax. Its time for Karen to
start doing something here, anyhow.

It occurrs to me that Rhea may have just been reading a note in my
file -- left last friday -- that they *should* fax the form to JL's
work fax when it comes in (left on friday the 15th), and incorrectly
interpreting this as a note that they *had* faxed it on friday the
15th. As of 4 pm today, still no fax recieved by Karen at Gallagher.
As brother Kevin put it, its time to start kicking over anthills. I
talked to the state Ombdsman's office (who gave me the number of the
Healthcare Accessibility Department) and a Place called Portico
Health. I don't know what Portico does. Something to do with health,
I'm guessing, but their number was given to me as possibly being able
to help and i'll take all the help I can get. Kevin talked to my
Hennepin County Commissioner and we have figured out who my State
Senator (Linda Berglin) is. I've known Sen. Berglin(though her former
assistant) for about 20 years, so I feell pretty confident that she'll
help if she can.

The main problem is that no one at Hennepin County Social Services
appears to give a sh*t about this. They have made nit one but 5
mistakes in a row on this and refuse to take ownership and just fix
it. They grudgingly answer the phone, tell me something to put me off,
and then terminate the call if it goes too long, knowing that I'll
just call back if I'm really serious and that the next person in line
will go through the same motions

ANother thought has occurred to me that really steams me: I'm getting
poor customer service becuase I don't matter. I'm serviced by Team 261
(Adult Services). Becuase I'm "poor". Don't forget that you can
actually get MinnesotaCare if you make up to (what I seem to remember
as) $27,000 a year. You can have up to $20,000 in assets (savings,
stocks, car, etc.) I know a lot of people who make less than that and
have less that $20,000 in assets. Students are perfectly eligible, and
its generlaly better and cheaper than student insurance plans. This
isn't welfare: It's designed to fill the insurance gap in a way that
the government isn't doing. So, yay, Minnesota. But I vote to fire
100% of the people currently administering it, since they suck.
So: do they actually *have* the form and they're trying to get around
to faxing it today, or did Rhea just pull some random info out of her
a*s as Hennepin County Social Service Team 261 so often seem to do?
And, if they think they sent it, have they closed the file?

As of 6pm, nothing faxed today. Of course, Karen leaves at 3:30. Sigh.
Tomorrow, I will spend most of the day under anesthesia and then in
recovery, so it will be difficult for me to keep beating the bushes on
this issue. But i will. I will be in my bed with tubes and wires
attached to me waiting on hold with Hennepin County Team 261. Just
like any other day.