Please Hold

Irritatingly, I had to pick a new Medicare Part D plan, and I decided to make the phone calls today. I didn't want to, mostly because I knew it would take up a lot of minutes on my phone! But, I guess that's why I have 900 minutes?? Anyway, I was changing plans because the one I'm in now will have a premium for next year. Although it seems like a small premium to some people, at the end of most months, I'm surprised when I actually have money leftover. I don't want to be struggling to pay another bill every month, and my medicines are so important, so I need to change to a plan that had no premium!!

The letter I got in the mail had about 8 other plans I could call to see if they A) covered all my meds, and B) worked with Accredo Pharmacy for the Tracleer and Revatio that I receive from them. I called 3 of the plans, two of which I got a live person right away. The first guy was sooo nice, I wanted to switch to that plan just because of him! He said they did not work with Accredo, but they worked with Medco. Hmmmm. I told him I'd think about it and call back, and he took my address to send me some information anyway. The person I talked to about the 2nd plan I called about just said no to Accredo, and I just said thanks for your time. I had to wait several moments for someone to answer at the third place, then I got a live person who told me in one long monotonous sentence that all the operators were assisting others, and would I like to give my phone number for someone to call me back? I said not to bother, I'd call back later!

As I sat there wondering what to do next, I realized that the company I already have a plan through had a different plan listed for no premiums. DUH!!! Why didn't I just call them first?? I wouldn't have had to start all over again with the meds and such! So, I called them. I got transferred to one department after I told the first person I talked to what I wanted to do to switch plans. I had nice Christmas-y music to listen to while on hold, but, I don't know if you've ever had to be on hold while on a cellphone. For me, the music is usually choppy, or comes in and out in waves. Kind of annoying! Eventually I got a very nice lady who helped me for about 15 minutes. There were awkward pauses while she was trying to look things up. Now, when I am on the phone, and someone is trying to look something up or wait for a computer to load, there is always this strange silence, and I feel like I have to do something so the person at the other end knows I'm still there. I usually sniff. I may not be sneezy or sniffly, but I sniff. Every minute or so (what seems like a minute). Finally the nice lady looked up the info I needed, and I had to be transferred back to another department to actually sign up for the new plan I wanted to be under. Another 5 minutes of choppy music went by before I got another lady. She sounded snobby, but she wasn't too bad. She asked a bunch of questions, read some terms about the plan, and got me set up for it all. So, hopefully something will come in the mail very soon!!

The time I spent on the phone was almost an hour. I guess that wasn't too bad! I would have saved myself some minutes if I had just realized in the first place my original company had another plan. **rolling my eyes**