Crazyness

Work lately has been really crazy. As some of you may know I work in customer service for Medicare Part D plans. I'm always amazed by the variety of people that I talk to on a daily basis as compared to any other job I've had. There is truly a random diversity of people that call in because everyone 65 and over qualifies for medicare. In a lot of cases the calls that I get are from their family members, pharmacists, and health providers, which adds in another mix of diversity. Not everyone that calls me is even old, a lot of people who have medicare are young and disabled.

Well as all of those who are impacted by Part D know, we just ended the annual enrollment period on Dec 31st. As a result, many people are now calling us for their member materials and also many many others for pharmacy information because we had to go and change some of the information on their cards for 2007. All of this is what keeps me employed, so I'm really not complaining about my job at all. In fact, I love my job no matter what the problem for so many reasons. First off, my job is relatively easy compared to my last job. In fact, the really nice thing is that my job is almost completely paperless. Generally the people that I help are quite polite and appreciate the work that I do. I did not expect that people would be so nice on the phone when I took this job. Though, I have a feeling that when my generation has to deal with medicare, they probably won't be as patient as their Grandparents are.

The last couple weeks have been an exception to the usual happy Retirees that I usually work with. There have been many frustrated persons, one calling right after the other, who have let me know where we can stick it. In fact, a good chunk of the people calling are very angry over service issues that are ordinarily routine fixes. Why is everyone frustrated this time of year?? It all stems from the fact that these folks who are generally older would much rather be doing something else than trying to fill a prescription. They are also frustrated by the limited coverage in some cases by Part D plans and the very bad service of some carriers. They have also had to wait on hold every place they called just to get an answer to a simple question. For those who are really unfortunate they have had to try to work out an enrollment issue with Medicare. When ever dealing with a Medicare drug plan, contacting Medicare themselves is the last ditch effort. No one wants to call Medicare or Social Security.

The Medicare/SSA phobia is well founded. All of the things that really go wrong for part D participants seem to stem from Medicare and Social Security. In fact, generally, the things that work best with the Part D program are those things that are handled by the private insurance companies that underwrite the policies. Case in point, (not to brag) but I know for certain that we provide our members with much better customer service than Medicare and SSA does. I remember having to call SSA as a banker to people's direct deposit switched with them. The turn around time was always like 2-3 months. I have learned in my new job that SSA's turn around time is like always 2-3 months. If it happens sooner, it is purely by the grace of God.

So with all the problems that surround our members this time of year, it's no wonder they're a little cranky/crazy. I would be too. The most satisfying thing is being able to help these people. And they deserve it too, it's amazing what these people have accomplished in their life. They deserve the absolute best. And sadly, as so many of our members have very humbly related to me, many of them have received the absolute worst with respect to their senior benefits. I know that our country can do these people one better. I plan to do my part for them one person at a time.

Happy Weekend,

LastManOut