Red Tape Headache!!

Before I move on to the first night home, I figured it would be good to explain this first...

On Friday I had gotten a letter saying that they didn't receive Harley's LTC Medicaid recertification papers (I turned them in over a month ago and have a letter from them saying they received it). It goes on to say that as a result of them not receiving the paperwork his medicaid would be discontinued 12/31...OK, well I have some meds that will need to be filled before then and I KNOW they won't have the mess on the County computers fixed that quickly so I run out to refill all of his meds...I get to Kaiser and am told that his medicaid is still active, but not with Kaiser as his PCPP...Uggh! So I have two choices: I can take the prescription to Safeway and have it filled or I can pay $121 for a 30 day supply...I opt for Safeway...

Get to Safeway...Also trying to fill Harley's new script for his anti psychotic meds which we recently decided to change the dosage on....Well, his medicaid is also showing as active there but with Rocky Mtn HMO as his provider, so I have two choices: Go to a Rocky Mtn HMO pharmacy OR pay $550 for a 30 day supply of 3 meds...Ummm, ok...

Get home and search the Health Care Policy & Financing website to find a "Rocky Mtn HMO Pharmacy" and learn that that HMO is only valid with medicaid on the WESTERN SLOPE of Colorado....Ok, we're not on the western slope....

It's 4:45 pm and I've already spent nearly 3 hours AND I'm getting frustrated so I figure...I'll deal with this Monday and call the county to get it straightened out...

Saturday Harley takes his last dose of his anti-psychotic meds (since we're still using the old script but doubling the dosage) so now we're without on those! The copay for those are a majority of the cost (nearly $300 for a 30 day supply) and medicaid won't reimburse and I really don't have an 'extra' $300 right now anyhow!!

Monday, first thing I get on the phone and leave voice mail messages for the 3 people at the county level who I have direct dial numbers for in the Long Term Care dept. Of course, I didn't figure I would get a call back right away...and of course the 'press xxx to get the case manager on call in an emergency' was also forwarded to a voice mail box...*sigh*

I get a call from Harley's school that his caseworker from Creative is very sick and they are not comfortable sending him out to go swimming with her (they ended up calling the paramedics to get her medical help!)...So I went to pick up Harley...Another change in routine to top off the fact that he's not had his meds for a couple of days...

Monday still no call back from anyone at the county...I have too many things to do on the road in the afternoon to spend the day talking on the phone while driving (which I HATE doing BTW!!)...Ok, start with the phone calls again tomorrow and make daily calls till someone can get the ball rolling in the right direction....

Monday overnight I go into labor...GREAT!! Now the calls will have to wait a couple of days....Or Maybe not!! Since the baby was born early enough I was on the phone leaving voice mails (AGAIN!) by 3pm on Tuesday...STILL no calls back...

Tuesday, Marion's here and getting Harley ready for school. The bus arrives about 15 minutes late because of the snow and ice and Harley misses his bus!! UUUUUGGGGHHH! Another routine change with no meds...AND he's not going to Creative again because he can't be picked up from school and his caseworker's still sick anyhow....Then Holly calls and can't make it to his 6pm OT visit at home because of the weather...ANOTHER routine change...As if the holiday season doesn't have enough routine changes for him to go whacko to begin with!!???

I send Andrew home overnight on Tuesday to deal with Harley and Tyler...he wanted to stay at the hospital, but I thought it was more important to be home with the boys at that point...

Wednesday I decided that Harley shouldn't bother going to Creative after school because he had already missed the preferred days and Wednesday was a non-preferred activity day (Music therapy...He HATES Wednesdays!)...PLUS his caseworker's scheduled to go out of town and it would be a different caseworker anyhow...So he got to come home on the bus...Only one minor routine change that day that he really didn't mind!

I get home from the hospital Wednesday about 3pm and check the day's mail from Tuesday...SSA has finally caught up with us...Harley is back on SSI which includes federal medicaid at the state level instead of through the county's long term care program....UGGGHHH! Of course I only got a check and not an award letter yet so I can't really prove that his medicaid is now considered 'straight' medicaid so that I can fill his meds....So now it's really best to put this on the back burner till I get the award letter and THEN call the county to get them to put him back on the PCPP program with straight medicaid as the backup....I hate waiting!!

Now I can move on to telling the story of how Harley (and the rest of the family) reacted to the baby coming home. I may decide to lay down for now and get some rest since everyone else is and tomorrow's another busy day...Three appointments on a Saturday? Ahh, the holidays!! Check back, I may find some time to actually finish off the week's news before the weekend's over??