I’ve been trying to get Medicaid paperwork filed this week, which, as anything to do with the US government does, is proving to be a ‘bit’ of a hassle.

I went Tuesday, armed with paperwork I’d already filled out in long-hand, to find that at the offices everything is done by computer. So, I transferred everything to the computer, except that there were some additional things I needed which had changed from the paper form to the computer one. I saved everything, wrote down the passwords and came home, found out I could finish it online at home without having to drive all the way back to the DCF office. Good. Finished it. Went to print it, but saw that for some reason it was listing D as the person applying and not me.
I drove back to the DCF office yesterday, talked to a nice lady there who showed me how to switch the names around before printing everything, and gave me release forms to sign while she set the application printing and took it to the window.
I went to the application window and a not-so-nice-lady there was having me fill some extra things out manually, when I saw that while the names had been switched, it had also screwed up all the information so everything pertaining to D was now attached to me (US citizen, employed, health insurance) and everything pertaining to me (unemployed, non-citizen, pregnant) was now attached to D. I asked her if I could perhaps fix and re-print the application, and she gave me a pen and told me to scratch out and correct everything that was wrong, manually ;_; so I did.
Then she asked me if I had proof of pregnancy (apparently pointing to my tummy was not the right answer). So, I was told to get a doctor’s note, and also have Umatilla PD fill out paperwork showing that they are employing D and how much he’s being paid. Dumb me, when she asked if I was working just said ‘no’ instead of ‘well, I was but I quit’, so I didn’t get one of those forms for me, whoops.
I had further fun with her because she didn’t believe me when I said I wasn’t a US Citizen. There was a second batch of paperwork that she generated using the mixed up data from the first set of forms I’d filled out, so, of course, I had to go through and fix that as well. It had D listed as a non-citizen, and me as a citizen. So I fixed that part, and realized it had either eaten the CIS number, or never transferred it, so I mentioned this to her, and she looked at me as though I was stupid/insane. So I asked her if I needed to put my alien number on the form. Finally once I produced my green card and gave it to her she started to believe me, but of course, had trouble with the English factor, because I hadn’t been talking to any relatives recently so my accent was American. Then she had to debate with one of the other people in the office as to whether or not I was even eligible for Medicaid because I’m not a citizen. Once they found out I’d been here ten years, they consented that I was. Phew!
So, yesterday then was spent driving around from pillar to post, between getting info from Dad to put his motorcycle up on eBay, and all the paperwork they wanted, doctor’s office, police department, city hall, bike shop.

This morning I woke up realizing I should have done a form for me as well, and that they had said previous paychecks would be enough provided you had eight weeks worth, so I found my previous paychecks, and my exit evaluation as proof I’m not employed at the Library any more and took that with me this morning, along with D’s forms and the note that says ‘Patient is pregnant’ – Dr. R.
The nice lady was there again, and walked me through the copier, and calmed me down because I almost rear-ended someone on the way there (go me) and was a bit shaken. She even threatened the copier with harm because it kept screwing up on me, which wasn’t nice, but the not-so-nice lady was back at the window when I took the forms in.
She was saying that she didn’t think I had brought enough paperwork, and why was I not working anyway? She at least softened up a bit after I explained fibromyalgia for her, and then of course wanted to know why I didn’t just opt for Family Medical Leave. By this point she had found the paychecks from Leesburg which I had brought for my stuff and realized they should provide all the necessary dates. Then she asked if I wouldn’t mind getting a form filled out by Leesburg HR as well (better to be safe than sorry), but that I should just bring it back when they call me to meet my ‘caseworker’ so one day this week I will not be at the DCF office, yay!

In slightly better news, D had to take his monthly qualifier in handgun and shotgun on Tuesday, and passed with flying colors. He got a perfect score in handgun ^_^.
Also tomorrow we get a new queen size bed, so we can stop sleeping on daybed mattresses, finally