I Abide

Jesus (the bowler not the son of god): I see you rolled your way into the semis. Dios mio, man. Liam and me, we're gonna fuck you up."

Dude: "Yeah well, that's just, ya know, like, your opinion, man." 

 - The Big Lebowski

February is not a generous month. This morning, the sunshine is watered down and faded with mist left over from recent rain. Even the colors are washed out and subdued. The pale sunshine offers very little warmth and the zen frog seems to be meditating about how cold his toes are. Do frogs have toes? His tiny webbed feet, then.

But Valentine’s day will be upon us this week, and thoughts of loved ones near and far should warm the heart.

My heart was also warmed this morning when I spoke to a specialist from the County about the denial of MediCal for a 94-year-old dementia patient in my family. The specialist said we don’t have to attend the hearing that had been scheduled for later this week to appeal the denial. Instead, we’ll get a letter to verify the County’s “conditional withdrawal” of the denial, Then, State officials will have 30 days to contact us to explain how we can re-qualify and tell us what verification is required.

So far, this process - including redetermination (annual renewal) application, initial denial, submission of further verification, formal denial, appeal, and now cancellation of the appeal hearing – has taken five months. It began in September, 2012 and is for coverage of the 12 month period of the calendar year 2013. By the time this matter is resolved, we will have maybe 6 months until we get to do it all again.

I suspect the cost to the government for this process is probably the equivalent of 6 months of Medi-Cal costs for this one client. But that’s just like, you know, my opinion, man. And I’m not counting my time and anguish. It’s a good thing that my religion is Dudeism. As a Duedist, I will abide. Happy Valentine's Day.