Medical assistance will be the death of alicia and I! Alicia is calling every hour and leaving messages and getting no calls returned! I broke down this morning and wrote a letter to Robert Godshall, Montgomery County state Rep. about the situation. Here's the letter:
Dear Mr. Bob Godshall,
I would like to first say thank you for taking the time to read this, I understand you are a very busy man. I’m not who else to turn to and I figured you would be able to help. I’m writing this letter to you because I fear this is a problem that is only going to get worse and many women feel helpless because of this problem.
I applied for state medical assistance back in October when I found out that I was 6 weeks pregnant. I wasn’t working at the time and my Husband was unable to add me onto his insurance. I called twice a month for the first 2 months and they kept telling me they haven’t received my applicant. They told me not to worry that it can take a month or two until they receive it because they were so busy but I decided to have the clinic at Grandview Hospital (Happy Beginnings) refax it twice just in case. Finally I called on December 5th and they said they have received my application and I’ll receive a letter within 30 days. I was getting annoyed because I had hospital bills piling up. I am a high risk pregnancy and I have to be monitored closely. The representative from the medical assistance office reassured me that whether I am approved or denied that they will cover the bills, numerous people have reassured me of this.
On the 31st day I haven’t received any letter or phone call so I called them. They said that the application is still under review and that they needed another 15 days. I made it a priority of mine to call back every week until I heard something. I called back on the 16th day and again they said they needed another 15 days because their Pottstown office closed down and some people have retired so they are short staffed. Again, I called every week and on 16th day I called again. By now its been 60 days from when they received the application, when I spoke with a representative about my case they said I was denied. I asked why and they said that my 26 year old husband was trying to add his daughter onto the insurance. He doesn’t have any kids and he isn’t 26! I asked for a supervisor to call me back and they said that I will hear something within 3 business days. Nothing. After numerous attempts to get a supervisor to call me back they finally did, 2 weeks later.
The supervisor, Mrs. Dai was all I got, called me and said the “real” reason I was denied benefits is because they never received my application and that they weren’t going to cover any of the medical bills. I’m sure you can imagine how I felt at this point.
It’s been over two weeks since that phone call and for the first week I called every day to see if they received my application that I had to re fax again. I’ve only spoken with Mrs. Dai twice and they were both very short phone calls. She hung up on me because she had a more important phone call to take. I haven’t heard from her in a week and I’m calling every hour and leaving messages too. I am due in shortly over 3 months and I’m not sure if this problem will be resolved or not before the baby is born. I have bills being sent to collections now because I can’t afford to pay them. The bills are near $5,000!
I believe that this is a problem that a lot of women are facing and it’s very frustrating. I need a voice, we need a voice. Please if there is anything you can do. I’m not sure who to turn to anymore. You are my last resort. Again, if you could please help me out it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time
I then decided to call his office to see if we could schedule an appt with him to talk about it and spoke with a very helpful Laura. I explained the situation with her and she said that she could help! She said SHE COULD HELP! We have to fax over the application that healthy beginnings has and we'll be good! I feel so relieved!
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