What does a 92-year old woman who lives alone do when the Social Security Administration decides to change her personal information which results in a change in her coverage status?It's difficult enough for most people who are used to dealing with bureaucracies... corporate or governmental... but almost impossible when an elderly person is faced with that daunting task. There are no ombudsmen to work through the problem for them. Most of the time the elderly do not understand why there is a problem or how to get someone to address the problem. It becomes doubly difficult when the government cannot decide if the person is one person or another and then provides forms in Spanish instead of English and then routes them through an automated answering system that requires a masters degree to understand or expects them to use a computer they don't have and never learned to use.
I learned today that this is what has happened to my mother who lives more than 1,000 miles away in a retirement home. Apparently, the Social Security Administration must think that places her in a family of more than one Social Security recipient or some similar category that translates into "you're going to lose coverage." So her coverage somehow gets reduced and her insurance payments get increased. That leaves her with a prescription cost deductible that is equivalent to 1/5 of her Social Security income.
She tried to work through the governmental maze, but just gave up. We're going to try to work this out long distance, but we're not sure if that can be done.
Oh, and the Social Security information she has been receiving is, from time to time, for another person with a similar name... one letter off. That must be her fault. The Social Security Administration could not have a problem... a problem... a problem....
So, you want Obamacare? This is your preview.