My Aunt Jane was stunning. She was beautiful, articulate, brilliant, talented, altruistic, loving, bright, generous, loving and a firecracker. That's the short version. She could also be larger than life, sharp tongued and entirely intimidating upon demand. That's the ouch factor.
Not one to be played, messed with, taken advantage of, or manipulated; she used her intuition to guide her and her words to make absolutely no mistake; she was not one to be messed around with. More than once in her bright life, she tuned some poor suspecting bugger in with a soul-deep stare and white hot words. Not abusive - okay well not entirely abusive - but commanding and penetrating. She was a force to be reckoned with. She could be a little scary when she wanted to be. But man, she got things DONE! THE SMART THING ABOUT HER WAS SHE NEVER CARRIED ANY RESENTMENT OR ANGER WITHIN HER BECAUSE SHE SPILLED IT WHEN SHE REALLY NEEDED TO. No b-s-ing Aunt Jane.
We loved her that way. The beauty of genetics is - in our family, we women all carry a little Jane inside of us.
So, I'm standing in line at the pharmacy today, like I do once a month, and have done every month for 22 months. In the same pharmacy I have used for all my prescriptions for the last eight years.
I am picking up the medicine that my son needs to use daily, for allergy-related swallowing problems. (Yeah, not fun.) He needs the medicine.
Every month for twenty two months, due to the superior health plan that I pay into through my work, I have not actually paid a cent for prescriptions. Naturally I am shocked when she says my benefits have been deferred to my husband's benefit plan.
'Bah-loney!' I say aloud and ask her to call, as I have not been notified of this change. She is helpful and calls and three people fall in line behind me.
A few minutes later, she hangs up the phone and informs me that because his birthday falls in the calendar year first, his company is first to receive the claim. My company has refused to accept the claim. I am seriously annoyed. Who decided that? When? and Why didn't anyone tell ME about it?
This means I will have to pay for my medicine today, send in the receipts and wait for a cheque in the mail.
I am pissed off, but what I am going to do about it?
She packs up the medicine and hands it over. I almost poop my pants in the lineup when I see the total.
A hundred and ninety dollars?!?!?!
Suddenly I feel a wave come over me, a surge of power that shoots up from my core and boils in the back of my throat. The poor woman working behind the counter in the pharmacy doesn't realize she is preparing to meet Aunt Jane.
I calmly but pointedly begin.... "A hundred and ninety dollars?!?!? What if I didn't have two hundred dollars for my son's medicine? What if I was a single mother and couldn't pay for this today? What would that mean for my son? What if I was a little old person who couldn't buy heart medicine today? Why wouldn't I have been notified about this change before it was made. Someone should've contacted me. Why the hell am I paying every month to a benefit program off my salary when they deem how and when I can use it?!?!?"
No one cares, nor do they look interested or affected, nor can they do anything about it. So I pay for my son's medicine and leave the store dialing my cell phone.
Now, I am not so foolish that I do not realize that the lovely pharmasists working behind the counter have NO control over the multi-gazillion dollar health comany that sucks money monthly out of my pay and then decides when and how I should be able to use it. AND I realize that I kind of look like a hot-head.
But Monday, my 'former' health care company meets Aunt Jane.
Not one to be played, messed with, taken advantage of, or manipulated; she used her intuition to guide her and her words to make absolutely no mistake; she was not one to be messed around with. More than once in her bright life, she tuned some poor suspecting bugger in with a soul-deep stare and white hot words. Not abusive - okay well not entirely abusive - but commanding and penetrating. She was a force to be reckoned with. She could be a little scary when she wanted to be. But man, she got things DONE! THE SMART THING ABOUT HER WAS SHE NEVER CARRIED ANY RESENTMENT OR ANGER WITHIN HER BECAUSE SHE SPILLED IT WHEN SHE REALLY NEEDED TO. No b-s-ing Aunt Jane.
We loved her that way. The beauty of genetics is - in our family, we women all carry a little Jane inside of us.
So, I'm standing in line at the pharmacy today, like I do once a month, and have done every month for 22 months. In the same pharmacy I have used for all my prescriptions for the last eight years.
I am picking up the medicine that my son needs to use daily, for allergy-related swallowing problems. (Yeah, not fun.) He needs the medicine.
Every month for twenty two months, due to the superior health plan that I pay into through my work, I have not actually paid a cent for prescriptions. Naturally I am shocked when she says my benefits have been deferred to my husband's benefit plan.
'Bah-loney!' I say aloud and ask her to call, as I have not been notified of this change. She is helpful and calls and three people fall in line behind me.
A few minutes later, she hangs up the phone and informs me that because his birthday falls in the calendar year first, his company is first to receive the claim. My company has refused to accept the claim. I am seriously annoyed. Who decided that? When? and Why didn't anyone tell ME about it?
This means I will have to pay for my medicine today, send in the receipts and wait for a cheque in the mail.
I am pissed off, but what I am going to do about it?
She packs up the medicine and hands it over. I almost poop my pants in the lineup when I see the total.
A hundred and ninety dollars?!?!?!
Suddenly I feel a wave come over me, a surge of power that shoots up from my core and boils in the back of my throat. The poor woman working behind the counter in the pharmacy doesn't realize she is preparing to meet Aunt Jane.
I calmly but pointedly begin.... "A hundred and ninety dollars?!?!? What if I didn't have two hundred dollars for my son's medicine? What if I was a single mother and couldn't pay for this today? What would that mean for my son? What if I was a little old person who couldn't buy heart medicine today? Why wouldn't I have been notified about this change before it was made. Someone should've contacted me. Why the hell am I paying every month to a benefit program off my salary when they deem how and when I can use it?!?!?"
No one cares, nor do they look interested or affected, nor can they do anything about it. So I pay for my son's medicine and leave the store dialing my cell phone.
Now, I am not so foolish that I do not realize that the lovely pharmasists working behind the counter have NO control over the multi-gazillion dollar health comany that sucks money monthly out of my pay and then decides when and how I should be able to use it. AND I realize that I kind of look like a hot-head.
But Monday, my 'former' health care company meets Aunt Jane.