Qualifying for Medi-Cal Due to Obamacare

          

          In other news, since I officially don't have any more unemployment benefits and don't know where and when my next income is going to come from, since you remember I've only been hired as a part time employee with no guaranteed working hours, I've re-qualified for Medi-Cal (Medicaid) insurance. (Did that sentence run on?) It was supposed to be effective June 1st, 2014 but due to government backlogs, I didn’t get it till mid July. In the meantime, I stopped paying Healthnet the monthly $135 I’ve been sending them since January. I thought that  I still have to continue paying Keenan Healthcare $45 a month for dental insurance thru COBRA from my previous employer but it turns out Denti-Cal was reinstated by California effective May 2014.

          Let me backtrack a little bit. In May, I had to call Covered California (the California Healthcare Exchange) to make the changes and was glad the wait time on hold wasn't as long as it was late last year. Charlie checked my eligibility and in a few minutes was transferred to the L.A. County Medi-Cal representative Lily who had me scan my last EDD unemployment check notice and upload it to the Covered California website. There are still some bugs in the system, but not as bad as it was before because the representatives have found workarounds to bypass the bugs. It also seems like the reps have more latitude to approve the changes based on the proof you upload. I thought that was it and that free Medi-Cal insurance would kick in on June 1^st. I made a doctor’s appointment and the medical assistant confirmed my eligibility. However on May 27^th, I got another call saying my Medi-Cal was deactivated. I called the L.A. County Medi-Cal office and was told that I had to wait for it to be reactivated again but without an approximate time. A few days later I got a letter in the mail informing me that a caseworker has been assigned to me at the local Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) office. I was also expecting another packet in the mail to pick a managed care plan.

          So I waited, and waited, then waited some more, and I called the DPSS every other week. Meanwhile I was getting tons of mail from Covered California which said I qualified for this and that federal subsidy which was basically what I was paying Healthnet for 5 months. It seemed that Covered California’s computer system finally caught up with the applications and the eligibility information I uploaded way back in October 2013.

          On the second week of July, I called the DPSS office again and my caseworker said that my Medi-Cal would be reactivated the next day, but to wait another day for me to make a doctor’s appointment. When the time came, I called the doctor’s office and they verified that my insurance coverage was again active. Hence, I made an appointment for the following week.

          So I finally made use of the free medical insurance last week  and went to see a doctor for a checkup almost a year since my last doctor's visit. Not just any doctor mind you, but one who accepted Medi-Cal and someone I used to work with as a mental health worker 20 years ago before he went to medical school and haven’t seen since. I went to the clinic 10 minutes early, filled out the necessary paperwork regarding my medical history, then waited in the examination room. When the doctor finally entered, he greeted me, then had to do a double take. He said "hey, I know you!". I was going to ask if he remembered me but it was too late for that. He asked me if I was in touch with any of our former co-workers, which I was not. So he mentioned a couple of nurses whom we used to work with and that they were his patients too. Hopefully, there was no HIPAA violation there since we were all friends way back when. So I had my checkup done, blood drawn for lab tests right there in the office, had my maintenance medications refilled, and experienced the advantages and joys of free Medi-Cal insurance: no doctor’s visits co-pay, no lab co-pay, and no pharmacy co-pay. All thanks to my much much lower income and Obamacare. I already addressed this in my blogpost way before Obamacare kicked in : http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2013/04/an-obamacare-loophole-for-early-retirees.html

Seeking a Financial Sweet Spot

          Now I have this dilemma of finding a full time job with benefits or working part time (and semi-retired) to keep my income within the limits required to stay eligible for free Medi-Cal. I'm torn between staying semi-retired and earning less (with free coverage for medical,dental, vision, and most prescription meds) or getting full time employment and earning more while paying for regular medical insurance with all the co-pays. I was offered a full time job which starts in mid-August which more than doubles what I earn  now, but in exchange, I have to work longer hours. The decision has to be made soon on whether to stay poor and get free insurance as long as Obamacare is in effect, or earn more money and start paying for employer sponsored insurance with all its co-pays. And perhaps, not too far down the line, since my mortgage is already paid off, finally take vacations I never took in the past 34 years of working so much.

           A final note on free Medi-Cal: when you choose a managed care plan, they even supply a postage paid envelope. That's your tax dollars at work folks. No wonder a lot of people pretend to be permanently disabled like some of the psych patients I've worked with.

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Budgeting While Unemployed

Stretching The Buck

          Forcefully retired - what a nicer way of saying that I am jobless without much money. Maybe untimely retirement sounds better. If not for the unemployment checks, I'd already be in deep doo-doo by now. Never mind that the unemployment rate has been going down, a lot of people still cannot find adequate jobs and not for lack of looking. I've sent numerous applications online but nary a call for an interview. My resume at Caljobs.ca.gov hasn't been viewed by even a single employer. Here's one of the reasons why I'm still not employed: no CNA credentials (certified nursing assistant). In the last few decades, I've fallen into a type of job which didn't require it, but now employers in psych units are beginning to prefer that you have a CNA. My CNA certification expired years ago even though my card does not have an expiration date. I already checked with the Board of Nursing several years ago about my status and was told I had to retake the whole course again. It's hard having been a jack-of-one-trade all these years.

          I'm beginning to find out that merely filling out applications and sending your resume online is not enough because software filters those applications using keywords and even when your resume passes those filters, a human may take their good old time sorting through the hundreds they probably receive daily. It would be better to find the actual hiring person and talk to him or her and they might look for your application. If not, well, at least you now have a contact person in the company.

          So how does one survive this situation I'm in? You tighten your belt...a lot, until you almost turn blue. Budgeting - something I thought I was good at. Through the recession, cut backs on our salary for three years, sending money to my mother, increasing cost of food and gasoline - I survived them all, but that was because I had an income. The unemployment checks are helping a lot but that will end in April and after that I will have to dig into my retirement nest egg. Out of the checks, I pay homeowner's association dues, electricity, heating gas, internet, cellphone, car insurance, health insurance, dental insurance, real estate taxes, and income taxes. My goodness, so many bills!

          For the amount of cash I used to withdraw from the bank every week for  food/gasoline/daily expenses, I have now managed to make it last for 10 or 11 days instead of 7. So instead of withdrawing that amount 4 times a month, I do it just 3 times a month. My last withdrawal from the ATM may even last me two weeks, but that's probably going to be a rare occurrence. I started using cheap shampoo to wash dishes again because they are cheaper than dish soap, thicker, lasts longer, and smells better. This was my blog post from April 2010: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2010/04/experimenting-with-dish-soap.html.  My gas bill more than doubled last month because I like to keep the temperature around 78 degrees. Well, that bill was too much so I decided I could just wear warmer clothes indoors and keep the temperature to about 70 degrees. My gas bill this month fell to more than half. Not having to drive to work has helped with my gasoline bill because I now only have to gas up about every 6 weeks or so. Another thing that helps is that I don't eat out. Because my income has decreased a lot, I qualified for small discounts on my electricity and heating gas bills. Every little bit helps at this point.

          As if being unemployed wasn't bad enough, this is what happened after I received my first unemployment check - someone guessed the numbers on my EDD debit card plus the security code and charged $2.00 in Illinois! They were probably probing to find out if they guessed correctly. A few days later, the bank credited it back after they replaced the card. One advantage of applying for the funds online is that you get the money quicker. I fill out the application on Sunday, then get an email from the bank when the EDD check is deposited on Monday, then 2 days later I get another email from the credit union that it's been transferred to my private account.

          I thought I had to pay income taxes for 2013 because despite being laid off, my income increased due to my 460 hours of vacation time being cashed out to me by the previous employer. Thank goodness after using tax software and filing electronically,  I was surprised that I'm getting a refund. That may allow me to last another month after the unemployment checks stop coming.

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TCB (Taking Care of Business) After My Layoff

          Apologies to Elvis Presley for using TCB in the title. So what have I done so far since I became unemployed last October 29th? First things first: I applied for unemployment benefits online which was a pretty easy process as long as you know what your income was every quarter for the past year. That's because the Employment Development Department (EDD) bases your weekly benefits on the quarterly incomes. About a week later, I received EDD's approval in the mail including information on how much a week I can expect to receive. I was also required to sign up for CalJOBS (caljobs.ca.gov), upload my resume, and complete some information about my work history, supposedly so that employers can look for me.

          Next, I waited for Keenan Benefits company to send me my COBRA information which shows how much I have to pay to continue my medical, dental, and vision insurance. While working, I (and the other employees) only paid approximately one third of the total amount. With COBRA, I would have to pay for the whole thing plus a processing fee. Here is the breakdown per month: medical= $501.60, dental= 43.82, and vision= 8.02. That was a shocker and way beyond what I thought it would be. So I had to shop for medical insurance in the open insurance market and was able to sign up with Anthem Blue Cross whose monthly price, deductibles, and co-pays were more or less affordable even though they are much higher than my previous insurance at work. I have to pay a slightly higher premium (25% more) than the base price because I have preexisting conditions of high blood pressure and high cholesterol which I am taking medications for. I am supposed to pay for a full month plus a prorated fee for the few days left before January 1, 2014. And why is that date very important? It's when Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act takes effect. Then it was time to sign up for Obamacare which I already previously blogged about here: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2013/11/my-experience-with-obamacare-sign-up-in.html. With the high cost of medical insurance, all the more reason to try your best to stay healthy.

Afterwards, I took care of my bank accounts which I also blogged about here: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2013/11/taking-care-of-bank-business.html. After sorting out how much money I had left, I decided to pay off my mortgage: http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2013/11/paying-off-mortgage-good-or-bad-decision.html. I finally received the Payoff Letter of Satisfaction from the bank a few days ago and am still waiting for L.A. County Recorder's office to send me a copy of the Deed of Reconveyance which I guess acts like the title to my property. Yes folks, I paid off my mortgage which has been the biggest amount I've owed for more than a couple of decades.

          Needless to say, I have also been looking for a job in between what I've done so far that's mentioned above. All of my applications have been online and the original plan was to look for job openings in nearby hospitals with psych units. I've sent applications for every one of them that I know of. The next plan was to widen the search area and also apply for jobs not related to the psych field. That included searching in the CalJOBS listings which included companies where you can send your resume via CalJOBS or external company websites you are redirected to. I also set up a few job agents using keywords of what kind of job I am looking for. With all that effort you would think that I would get at least one call for an interview. Zip, nil, zilch, nada! Wow, I didn't realize finding a job would be so difficult especially with my experience. Well, that might pose a problem actually, because I've worked in the psych field for the last 32 years, I may be pigeon holed (I hope I'm using that term correctly) as being too experienced therefore inflexible, or just plain too old for the available positions. After all, 32 years is sometimes longer and older than the age of a lot of workers in the psych field. So three weeks after I was officially laid off and six weeks after I started looking for a job, I'm still unemployed.

          With all the paperwork from all of the above, things are starting to get confusing so I have to get more organized. I guess one way of sorting them all out is writing about it. I have paper files in different folders, digital files in the computer, and a dedicated browser bookmarks folder for websites I've applied to and/or planning to apply to. Some days I feel that I'm not catching up and some days are just plain boring if I didn't have any projects planned.

          Part of what I've done to prepare for long term unemployment was to make a projected monthly budget. If you think I've done well during the recession by cutting my spending, well you may be right, but now I have to cut it to the bone. I actually conducted a poll among my classmates in our Facebook group, whether it would be more feasible for me to live in the Philippines (I have dual citizenship) based on a certain budget. I asked for their input on how much I need each month based on what part of the country I may move to. Their opinions mattered a lot since we are of similar ages and have to deal with similar things like housing, food, utilities, and healthcare in our middle aged years. One question I asked myself is why I would want to go back and live there when Filipinos want to come to the U.S. to live here to improve their way of life? Well, that's where the matter of monthly expenses come in. If it costs pretty much the same living here as it would in the Philippines, I might as well stay here. Regardless of where I decide to live, the budget is going to be very, very tight.

          And this is where unemployment benefits are going to help. If I remain unemployed for the next six months and as long as I keep looking for a job, the money I get from the government is enough to sustain me without having to touch my nest egg. I still hope to qualify for Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) so I don't have to pay for medical insurance starting January 1, 2014. And if I don't, I've factored that into my projected monthly budget. Unemployment benefits are going to save me from going bankrupt for now. So far I've received the benefits for two weeks. Boy, being unemployed sure is inconvenient! Even though I'm trying my best to TCB, it's looking more like HBH.

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