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This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here. Tuesday, February 07, 2006 I'm pissed as hell I've been up to my ears in work, and some professional writing assignments for a change, and haven't even been able to read anyone's blog, much less post to my own. But something happened last week that I'm still sputtering about.I should have realized that the new Medicare prescription program would be fertile ground for scams. It didn't occur to me to warn Clarence, who turns 65 this year, not to commit to anything without my being present. Clarence is not entirely senile, but he isn't far from it these days, an easy target for someone who sounds sincere.Last Friday, while I was out of town working, someone from an insurance company in Greensboro called the house and, according to Clarence, told him that because he would be 65 this year, he would no longer have prescription drug coverage through his health insurance program and would have to get his medications through Medicare.This call raises a lot of issues. First, where did this insurance company get Clarence's name, his birthdate, his telephone number and the fact that he is covered by health insurance? They might have been guessing on the last one, but the combination of name, age and phone number means that those pieces of information are together in some database. His name and phone number are in the directory, and if he had a driver's license, his name and birthdate could be acquired from DMV records, Virginia being one of those states that sells its DMV records. But he hasn't had a license in nine or ten years. The other most likely source is his credit record. My understanding is that credit records were supposed to be used only for the purpose of deciding whether or not to extend credit to an applicant, or to make a credit offer. I'll have to find out, because this has really ticked me off.I found out about the call only when Clarence asked me to make sure the kitchen table was cleaned off before "the man" arrived. He said this as I was about to go out the door to work up around Charlottesville for the day."What man?" I asked. The one, he told me, who was coming to take care of his prescription insurance."You have prescription coverage already," I reminded him. "What the heck is this all about?"He said he told the salesman that he had a prescription plan, but the man said that even if it continued past Clarence's 65th birthday, it would only pay a percentage of the cost, whereas his plan would pay 100% of the cost (for only $90.00 a month, that is). Clarence pays a truly nominal amount for a three-month supply of any drug his doctor prescribes. Some of the generic drugs he takes are so cheap that we ccould buy them without any insurance at all and still pay less than the prescription plan's charge for 90 days. But even if we bought them all on the prescription plan, the cost would be less than the $90 a month this salesman wanted Clarence to sign up for.The salesman used the typical array of high pressure scare tactics, telling Clarence that he only had "one more appointment slot left" in our area, and that if Clarence didn't sign up now, the price would be probably go up later. When he had his wits about him, Clarence would have recognized this for what it is, but after three strokes, he isn't working on all thrusters any more.I didn't work all the math out until I was driving down the road later in the day. When Clarence told me about this, my main concern was to make sure this jerk couldn't talk Clarence into signing anything. I called OPM, the federal agency through which Clarence's pension is handled, and was reassured by them that he has lifetime insurance coverage, and that he will not have to resort to Medicare when he turns 65. Then I printed up a little sign to stick on the door, saying "Sorry, we couldn't be home today, please call my cell phone to reschedule." Then I called the phone company and had our number changed, and made non-published.That ensures that no one who has Clarence's number from some external source will be able to call him. Unfortunately, it does nothing for computer generated calls that just go through a list of numbers. The phone rang twice this morning with sales calls for insurance, on the new number.When I called Shelley to give her the new phone number, she mentioned that the number of scams directed at senior citizens is roughly three times the percentage they represent of the overall population. Looks like Medicare part D is likely to contribute to that number. I'm not knocking the Medicare plan for that reason--it has plenty of innate problems having nothing to do with sales scams. Just pissed that on top of everything else I have to deal with, now I've got to worry about what Clarence might have been talked into signing in my absence.I haven't mentioned which company called him because I haven't had an opportunity to talk to them yet. I won't badmouth them until I hear their side of it. But unless they've got a damn good reason for having told a confused stroke victim that he was going to lose his drug coverage, I'm not going to just plaster their name all over this blog, I'm also going to complain to the North Carolina SEC. posted by Liz @ 9:03 PM | The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email toliz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002 Feedjit Live Blog Stats
I've been up to my ears in work, and some professional writing assignments for a change, and haven't even been able to read anyone's blog, much less post to my own. But something happened last week that I'm still sputtering about.I should have realized that the new Medicare prescription program would be fertile ground for scams. It didn't occur to me to warn Clarence, who turns 65 this year, not to commit to anything without my being present. Clarence is not entirely senile, but he isn't far from it these days, an easy target for someone who sounds sincere.Last Friday, while I was out of town working, someone from an insurance company in Greensboro called the house and, according to Clarence, told him that because he would be 65 this year, he would no longer have prescription drug coverage through his health insurance program and would have to get his medications through Medicare.This call raises a lot of issues. First, where did this insurance company get Clarence's name, his birthdate, his telephone number and the fact that he is covered by health insurance? They might have been guessing on the last one, but the combination of name, age and phone number means that those pieces of information are together in some database. His name and phone number are in the directory, and if he had a driver's license, his name and birthdate could be acquired from DMV records, Virginia being one of those states that sells its DMV records. But he hasn't had a license in nine or ten years. The other most likely source is his credit record. My understanding is that credit records were supposed to be used only for the purpose of deciding whether or not to extend credit to an applicant, or to make a credit offer. I'll have to find out, because this has really ticked me off.I found out about the call only when Clarence asked me to make sure the kitchen table was cleaned off before "the man" arrived. He said this as I was about to go out the door to work up around Charlottesville for the day."What man?" I asked. The one, he told me, who was coming to take care of his prescription insurance."You have prescription coverage already," I reminded him. "What the heck is this all about?"He said he told the salesman that he had a prescription plan, but the man said that even if it continued past Clarence's 65th birthday, it would only pay a percentage of the cost, whereas his plan would pay 100% of the cost (for only $90.00 a month, that is). Clarence pays a truly nominal amount for a three-month supply of any drug his doctor prescribes. Some of the generic drugs he takes are so cheap that we ccould buy them without any insurance at all and still pay less than the prescription plan's charge for 90 days. But even if we bought them all on the prescription plan, the cost would be less than the $90 a month this salesman wanted Clarence to sign up for.The salesman used the typical array of high pressure scare tactics, telling Clarence that he only had "one more appointment slot left" in our area, and that if Clarence didn't sign up now, the price would be probably go up later. When he had his wits about him, Clarence would have recognized this for what it is, but after three strokes, he isn't working on all thrusters any more.I didn't work all the math out until I was driving down the road later in the day. When Clarence told me about this, my main concern was to make sure this jerk couldn't talk Clarence into signing anything. I called OPM, the federal agency through which Clarence's pension is handled, and was reassured by them that he has lifetime insurance coverage, and that he will not have to resort to Medicare when he turns 65. Then I printed up a little sign to stick on the door, saying "Sorry, we couldn't be home today, please call my cell phone to reschedule." Then I called the phone company and had our number changed, and made non-published.That ensures that no one who has Clarence's number from some external source will be able to call him. Unfortunately, it does nothing for computer generated calls that just go through a list of numbers. The phone rang twice this morning with sales calls for insurance, on the new number.When I called Shelley to give her the new phone number, she mentioned that the number of scams directed at senior citizens is roughly three times the percentage they represent of the overall population. Looks like Medicare part D is likely to contribute to that number. I'm not knocking the Medicare plan for that reason--it has plenty of innate problems having nothing to do with sales scams. Just pissed that on top of everything else I have to deal with, now I've got to worry about what Clarence might have been talked into signing in my absence.I haven't mentioned which company called him because I haven't had an opportunity to talk to them yet. I won't badmouth them until I hear their side of it. But unless they've got a damn good reason for having told a confused stroke victim that he was going to lose his drug coverage, I'm not going to just plaster their name all over this blog, I'm also going to complain to the North Carolina SEC.
The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section
RSS Feed
PERSONAL
WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'
"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.
THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME
Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3
KNITTING BLOGS
Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits
FINISHED PROJECTS
SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE
POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES
BOOKS I'M READING
How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising
ARCHIVES
February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002
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