4
After 6 months of fighting with my mom's Medicare paperwork, I finally got her a PCP appointment in under 2 weeks
Switching from calling random numbers to using her local Area Agency on Aging in Portland got her seen by a doctor near her house instead of waiting 45 days for the clinic downtown - has anyone else had better luck going through those state offices versus the insurance help lines?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
jordan_hill15d ago
A neighbor in her 70s told me about the Area Agency in Portland last year, and I felt silly for not knowing about it sooner. I spent three weeks on hold with Medicare's 800 number before realizing they have a local office ten minutes from my house. It made me wonder how many other people are banging their heads against the phone tree when there's a perfectly good human being down the street.
6
emma9615d ago
Three weeks on hold sounds more like bad luck than a system failure honestly. I've called Medicare's main line maybe twice and got through in under ten minutes both times. People love to exaggerate wait times when they're frustrated. Plus yeah local agencies are great but they're not exactly secret, they're listed on the county website right next to the health department info. Maybe the real problem is nobody checks anything until they're already panicking. I'm not saying phone trees are perfect but acting like this is some hidden crisis feels a little dramatic.
1
fiona_kim9715d ago
Yeah that whole system is a maze, glad you found a shortcut through the local office.
6