Medicare kicks in for me on September 1st.. How did that happen?
I have to laugh at myself. Yesterday I decided it was time to take care of enrolling in the Kaiser Senior Advantage program. I’d put it off long enough.
After a brief battle with some computer glitches I got to the Kaiser website and started the enrollment process. Early on it was revealed that I would need some information that is found on the red and blue Medicare card I received in the mail about a month ago. So…where is the card? I know it’s on my desk somewhere.
Pretty much anyone who knows me is aware that I have a dysfunctional relationship with paper. It accumulates around me in deep drifts and vaguely organized piles. I knew right where the card should be. Operative word here…should.
A quick excavation and no card. Hmmm. Perhaps I’d relocated the pile. So I searched another area and came up with the Medicare & Me 2015 handbook that came with the card. That gave me some hope but there was still no card.
I pulled out the filing cabinet and looked behind the desk because the cat is inclined to shove things out of his way when he settles in for a nap. A handful of Post-is with old reminders and obsolete to-do lists. A couple of business cards and a pencil that I’d been looking for, but no Medicare card.
Now I’m getting a little anxious. It should be here! After going through every paper on my desk and the table next to me, twice, I realized the next place to look is in my office trash. One by one I pull out papers, envelopes, tissues, index cards, water bottles, and paper towels. About half way down I find the letter that came with the card.
The letter is in the trash because one of my cats puked on my desk a couple weeks ago. (Aren’t pets just the best?)The letter is one of the casualties from that incident. I shook off the now dried kibble, cleaned it up and flattened it out as best I could, taking this discovery as a sign that the card is close.
But no. No card! Not on my desk, not on the table, not tucked into my notebooks, not in the trash, not on the bulletin board, not on my whiteboard, not even in my wallet (that would have been too easy.)
I will take the rumpled and stained letter to the local Social Security office and request a new card. My prediction is, that within a week of receiving a new Medicare card, the original will turn up.
Oh – the letter provided the information I needed so I did manage to finish my enrollment.
And here I sit, looking around wondering…could the card have gotten tucked into one those file folders? You know I’ll be looking for it.