Health Care Merry-Go-Round ( 2nd Scene)

      December 16, 2009 was the day when I was able to submit two filled-out application forms. Together with it are the itemized hospital bill, the hospital's waiver, death certificate, funeral receipts, and father's SSS certification of membership. Plenty, isn't it? Not sufficient, I think. That's because I've been required to submit some more by Philhealth head office. These were copies of my parent's marriage certificate, my mother's two id-size photos, my birth certificate and that of my siblings, our waiver of right and a letter of request from mother as claimant. January 19 this year, I forwarded the second set of papers to them. A clerk reviewed it and again more were asked of me to submit. These are baptismal certificates of  my brother and mine, and an ID. That ID I couldn't remember anymore what for or what it was. Most probably due to the sheer amount of paper or documents I had to work on and produced; and most of it had to be notarized and certified. A couple of days after, with the certificates and an id in hand, I was finally told to come back in a month's time to follow up on our claim's progress.

      Came back to Philhealth around the second week of following month. Still in process. Third week. "Good for payment", they say. Even showed me the workstation's monitor linked to their file server. As clear as daylight, "Good for Payment". Finally it would be over, or so I thought and was led to believe. Came back last week of February, still "good for payment". No sign a checque being issued though. March 11, still the same. It seemed to hit a plateau several more days after. March 23, "payment withheld"??? Reason a certain form 3 or a clinical abstract was being asked by some wise guy upstairs. Is this some kind of  a big joke! After all the time and effort I made not to mention the money spent on everything(viz., transport fares, notarial fees, certification fees, and other charges). The clerk could not even explain why. 
      In fact, one of the application form that was submitted to them at the very outset contains already the information found in the clinical abstract/F3 form being required(again!) such as the attending physician's diagnosis, time of death, etc.  Also attached to it was the hospital's final billing reflecting items used- cotton swabs, syringes, medicines, ventilator,...medical procedures, tests, fees, and so forth and so on. Obviously, all those were overlooked or were deemed insufficient.
     So I had to ask her to tell me who to talk to. It's on the 12th floor of the building. Room 1209 or something. Look for Maricel. 1209, lots of office people busy on their desks. Had a little talk with Maricel and she tried explaining. (Irking me a bit was a nosy security guard by my side and who was supposed to be manning his post instead.) Well in any case, Maricel did not have any satisfactory explanation to give either way. What on earth or rather why the "good for payment" thing for so long a time and, from out of the blue, it was withheld? That was mainly my question. Wasn't it supposed to be evaluated and re-evaluated by them before approval of any claim for that matter? All she could do was give me back all those papers I had submitted to them and suggested that I refile it as soon as I can get the clinical abstract. 

      Taking with me the papers, I went back down the elevator and out the building. Took a ride back to the hospital. There I went straight to the medical records section and asked for the clinical abstract. I was told to come back for it in two days. Got it exactly two days after and immediately went as fast back to Philhealth that same day. The whole receiving office was packed with clients. There's practically no room to move about. Also there only so little time left before closing time. So I decided just to go back next day.    
     Following morning, today. I had to sit and wait for my cue. In less than half an hour, I had all papers including the clinical abstract refiled.

         One more strange thing. Philhealth representatives in the hospital were even wondering why the head office needed a form 3 or abstract. Form 3, they said, were only needed when the patient involved stayed for less than a day. Father was hospitalized for two full days. That actually the representatives had not been issuing it anymore. Even they find it odd when I told them of our claim being on a "good for payment" status for several weeks and suddenly it reverted to being withheld. I myself smells something amiss and almost realizing it when, upon refiling at the head office, I was told it would take another two months to process my papers. And also furthermore, I was informed in so many times by their own people at the head office that there was a change of management a few months before. What sort of seeming sinister event is unfolding? That will be seen when election period comes! That's exactly "two months" from today. Now what could possibly be the connection. Your guess can only be as good as mind.

Health Care Merry-Go-Round (1st Scene)

       There oughta be a law! That's been in  my mind for longest time since I started working on my father's funeral and death benefits. Social Security System(SSS) began sounding more like Social Insecurity System. Philippine Health Insurance Corporation(Philhealth) sounded unhealthy. Membership is a must for all- private companies, skilled and unskilled workers, household helpers. 

       Sometime January of this year, on behalf of my mother, I initiated a claim for father's funeral benefit. SSS branch office gave me a requirements list and three forms to fill up. Following day, I got the needed requirements(identification papers, certifications, photos) and had the application forms filled out and properly signed. I presented it to a receiving clerk and promptly, after it was reviewed, was asked for some more documents. Why didn't they tell me that at the beginning? Maybe they needed to be assured of whatever that may be. Off again to get those docs. Another day, I was back at their office with the additional documents. Stamp, stamp, stamp. Scribble notes here, scribble notes there. Clerk told me take a seat and wait for my cue while he passed all of my papers to a supervisor nearby. Finally I get to meet lady supervisor. She reviewed my papers and asked me (actually it was more of a demand) to bring mother along with her identification. Mother had only one, her senior citizen ID card.Well what can I do. So I had to. 
     Come another day and mother was already on a chair fronting the supervisor's table. A few inquiries were made by the latter. "Oh, and one more thing..." she said, "Could you provide us this one final document..." [my ears seeming to get clog with earwax or maybe some faint familiar droning sound coming from some unknown source].
Agreed. And again, what else could we do. Only consolation we got from the supervisor was mother would not need to show herself personally anymore when I get to grant the supervisor's "last wish". Consuelo de bobo! That's what it was actually. Any way everything's over and done with. A full week of one herculean task enough to make me feel frustrated at SSS the whole week after.

    More on this soon...

One Very Hot Day

     Mother and I went to get her own postal ID as scheduled. We had to walk from a block away and passed through the city's public market. The latter was just renovated wherein its wide roofing provided us enough shade from the scorching heat of the sun. It's about an hour past noon when we reached our intended destination. We then proceeded directly to the room on the second floor of the old post office building where IDs are processed. There were the usual four desks. All located at the left side of that poorly ventilated room. Beside that row of desks is a wooden file cabinet. And beyond that are a mound of several dilapidated cartons stacked with an assortment of files and papers. All of it gathering dust. The first two desks were occupied by lady personnel busy with their work- typing. Yes, typing. Not with the latest computer keyboard but with manual typewriters. The third desk, I presume, was the issuing officer with only a pen and a small laminating machine by his side. On the far side was an open door. Probably left wide open to let cooler air in. An elderly man sleeping on a bench right beside it. 
    I ushered mother to a chair in front of that third desk. Mother's first time in their office. It was my fourth. She probably was a bit confused or maybe horrified at the way that office looked. Imagine after having her walk so far on that hot Thursday afternoon and entering such an messy place...

       Some gruelling moments more,  mother finally got her laminated postal ID card. I then suggested that we go straight to the nearest bank to open a pension account. Her newly acquired postal ID is just what is needed. That is, aside from all the other pertinent documents which I have prepared and gathered ahead of time.  Made it minutes before closing time. The bank supervisor we approached was very, very accommodating. He politely invited us to sit down while he attended to our needs well enough to make us feel as comfortable and relaxed. The supervisor himself filled out the forms for us after we had presented our credentials. He made her just sign the account forms after finding everything in order. That being done, he told us to come back the following day to just pick up the ATM card of my mother's pension account.

    We had a little snack, mother and I, in one fastfood restaurant before heading straight home. She had an ice cream sundae with french fries, and I a burger sandwich and a cold soda to go with it.
    Day is over and I can tell to myself to rest easy. 

Maze

      40 minutes was what I had before closing time. There were two more people lined up ahead of me. I just need to have a form signed in that Social Security branch office and that's it. I'm done for the day. Time 4:45 p.m. I finally was able to forward it to the desk clerk and had it signed. That form I planned to present to a bank following day to open an account for my mother's pension. Just one hitch. The clerk required(among the many other documents I submitted) a postal ID card!? Isn't that something. Keep cool, I thought. So as fast as I could, I went out of  that branch and walked straight to the Post Office. 
      It's only about 100 meters away and 10 minutes to spare. Finally reached it and asked for directions where exactly to get the application for the postal ID. "Second floor", second floor it is. And several steps up the two flights of stairs, I was greeted by a closed door. People must have punched out their time cards much earlier. Rightly so because there was this notice on their glass window that says "Application forms from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. only".    
      Air was hot and humid. I was almost gasping for breath. Again, keep cool. Good I did. Kept my cool.  Their door full of handwritten instructions on some recycled worn-out cardboard. On it were more requirements on obtaining a postal ID. And boy, what I thought to be just a simple matter(social security pension) is now getting more complicated. It's like solving crossword puzzle and trying to find a way out of a maze at the same time.
      My one consolation was when I was already back home. Changed cloths, took some snacks and drank a glass full of ice cold water. Rested a bit in my room. Soon I went for a little walk to the village park. 
      I was talking with some other residents when Jongga came up to me and asked if I could help him out with his pc. I say, troubleshooting is my middle name. Why not? It took me only about half an hour to fix his relatively new machine. Jongga is just about to finish his college. He is taking Computer Science. He somehow meekly offered me a bottle of beer in exchange for the job I did. "I'll take a raincheck"- I almost was tempted to say. Really getting a pc unit up and running again is already a rewarding experience. Like a job well done. 
      So off I went back to the park. In a short while, here comes Kryzel. Their HP deskjet printer was not working. I took a look at it. Problem was driver was not installed. Good they still have the driver disk around. A matter of installing it. Everything was almost fine but then later found out that the ink cartridge was empty. I seemed to enjoy that moment anyways. Kryzel is on her second year in college. She is taking up Computer Science. They, Jongga and Kryzel, are just two of the many neighborhood kids that I find worth mentoring.
      Thinking of the difficulty and frustrations I had that afternoon working on my mother's pension, the ones on Jongga and Kryzel were really gratifying. It was like completing the crossword puzzle and finding the exit of the maze.

Oops!

      Great. Just used Google Chrome and IE to check on my blog. Title isn't blinking anymore. Now I have to find out the right codes for it. For starters, I've searched for a possible site as reference.http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/releasing-chromium-os-open-source.html

Changes

    Now I'm getting the hang of it. That is, editing html and css codes to this blog to better suit my taste. A very minor change on some classic templates. But it's like having done one of Mario Batali's best recipes in me own little kitchen table and adding a few twist on it. Then finishing the whole plate clean down to its garnishes. And finally savoring everything with a bottle of chardonnay.

Almost Forgot

          There was this shopping site where I posted two items up for sale. A keyboard and an optical mouse. Both are slightly used original HP ps2 input devices. It has been quite awhile since I last checked on it. So I signed in to the site yesterday and read a message from one wanting to buy the keyboard. The message was about three weeks old. I hesitated for a moment to reply as the fella was asking  if I could lower the price for it. Fact is I was planning beforehand to adjust it to a higher price. On final thought, the keyboard was not brand new and I have no other use for it. Anyways, I am using another one exactly like it plus a flexible silicon keyboard as a spare. And so my reply was sort of like, "That's the final price. Megamall is my tepee where we pow-wow. You can send smoke signals through my cellphone". I just hope it wouldn't be another Little Big Horn kind of battle when we do get to meet and he would still try haggle for a lower price.