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Showing posts with label no money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label no money. Show all posts

Monday, 18 July 2011

Health Insurance (again)

So I have come full circle.  The problem started with my health insurance 2 years ago when I fell behind with the premiums.  So I changed insurers as Insurer 1 stopped paying my medical bills until I had caught up with the arrears.  Insurer 2 were happy to pay my medical bills so I continued to pay the new insurer and get my medical bills paid.  I thought I had "resigned" the contract with insurer 1.  But no, I was not allowed to change insurers with arrears outstanding and they would not accept a payment plan from me although I offered this on at least 3 occasions. Insurer 1 should have informed insurer 2 that I could not proceed with a contract with them, but they didn't.
Insurer 2 then said because I had signed a contract with them also, that I had to pay them as well.  So in effect, I would have t pay 2 health insurers which there was no way I could afford. Insurer 1 kept billing me.  I kept telling them that I was no longer insured with them, so to stop billing me.  I saw the social services, but he misadvised me, so all the while insurer 1 kept registering my non payment as a debt.  I then had the government debt people chasing me for money which I didn't believe I owed and couldn't afford anyway.
Finally this year my psychiatrist referred me to the social worker based in the psychiatric department (no doubt he wanted paying too!) and she started getting involved.  Basically insurers 1 &2 were acting against the law.
Following so far?
Another three months down the line, insurer 2 started issuing refunds to me, although I had specifically said to pay back to insurer 1.  Of course, they weren't going to do this as that would show liability.  In the meantime I was referred to the normal social services department as my social worker had done all she could within her remit.
Hence I have now received another letter from insurer 1 repeating what I was told 2 years ago.  "We will not pay your medical bills untill all arrears have been paid".
In effect, this means I can no longer afford medication, I cannot afford to go to my GP, I cannot afford to go to my psychiatrist.  Normally after I have visitedeither of these /collected medication, I am billed.  This gets sent to the insurer, who then refunds me the total bill less 10%.  I can then pay the bill with a small contribution from myself so that it is paid in full.  I can negotiate part payment, but still have to pay my insurance premiums, so it is one or the other.
Basically, I'm screwed.  After half an hour of crying this afternoon I put my energies into sorting out exactly which bills were still outstanding.  I have an appointment with social services in the morning and they know that they have to deal with the insurance companies on my behalf as I am not mentally capable any more of communicating with them - it's too much and I don't always know the words to converse in German. 
I am also waiting for my unemployment benefit (3 months now) so I phoned them today.  They told me they still need more paperwork.  Would have been nice if they had written to me to let me know what was missing, so I photocopied every job related bit of paper from the last two years and sent it to them with a covering note to say if there was anything further missing all they have to do is look up my file from last October from when I last signed on and it will all be there.  Of course, being Swiss that probably won't be good enough and I will have to do the rounds of all my employers in the last 2 years to get copies of paperwork which the unemployment office ALREADY HAS!
Frustrated? YES. Upset? YES. Skint? YES (i have about five pounds to my name right now).
I know the meeting with social services will be awful tomorrow because I will get hysterical and cry because I can't take the pressure any more.  It's all too much.

Friday, 1 July 2011

Progress

I feel bad.  Very bad.
I've been feeling (up until now) pretty stable, not unhappy, able to cope.  However, a couple of things have been happening which I think have contributed to my mood suddenly skydiving.
First - ex boyfriend.  He split up because he said he wanted to be on his own.  Then he said a couple of weeks ago that he had never needed anybody (and although I don't want to feel needed, it's still hurtful that he doesn't need me in his life).  Now he is saying he is lonely.  Oh, and for some reason I still keep sleeping with him.
Second, I just found out that 3 and a half grands worth (CHF) of bills DID NOT get processed by the bank at the beginning of April.  And they didn't even send me a letter to tell me.  So I came back from holiday thinking the bills had been paid and oh look, I've done well managing my money and have enough to last me two months, which has now been spent on...well....living costs. So I am again behind with my psychiatrist bill and at the moment am in limbo between two health insurers so have no idea who is insuring me and who is paying my doctor's bills.
When I found out about the non-paid bills yesterday I really tried to not obsessively think about it.  I tried to do what that patronising prick Eckhart Tolle tells me in The Power of Now to just live in the situation. So I tried to distract myself but there was this little voice in the back of my thoughts repeating "FUUUUUCCCCKK" no matter what I did.  I disassociated from my feelings to try and cope.  Didn't work, the voice was still there. So I took some Seroquel to calm the voice down.  Promptly fell asleep for an hour which pissed me off as I haven't been sleeping properly at night for ages and didn't want to mess up my sort of routine.  (I was awake until at least 2 a.m. so yet more Seroquel to help me sleep).  Woke up this morning feeling generally low, lethargic and like I wanted to cry (and haven't been able to all day). Forced myself to get dressed and go out into the village (I needed some shopping and to pick up a prescription for Naltrexon) and found that I was feeling a bit disorientated and anxious about all the people.  Picked up my prescription and had a really nice chat with my pharmacist (she is a star and orders my drugs on emergency many times as I forget to reorder in time).  She asked me if I was living somewhere new as she had seen me carrying shopping at the other end of town.  I told her me and J split up in February, which she didn't know (her boyfriend was J's boss).  Anyway, she split up with her boyfriend (which I knew about) - he was 45, they had been together 20 years and he, like J, just turned round one day and said he didn't want to be in the relationship any more.  So there we were, in the middle of the pharmacy, bitching about men and mid-life crises.  But she said I looked better and although I felt like crying (which she kept apologising for) it was more because she was being so kind about it and not telling me crap like there are plenty of fish in the sea etc, etc.  She said we could meet up for a soft drink (she knows I have an alcohol problem) and that I can phone her any time.  We were both of the opinion that it can be a bit lonely sometimes and the thank goodness for our cat (mine)/dog (hers) to help us through.  Oh, and men are crap, pathetic little babies that can't deal with real life.  (Bit hypocritical on my part I guess).
Anyway, am at home now, a friend of mine will be on fb later to talk about not drinking (again) and hopefully remind me of the shame of alcohol.  I managed today all right but it is hard.  Still, am at home now and no alcohol in the house so as long as I stay in, I can get through today sober.
Doctor (GP) appointment on Wednesday, need to make another Psych appointment soon (when the bills are paid).  Still no job.