Today I am thankful for my insurance gig.
I took the insurance job because I was recently divorced and needed health insurance. I chose this company because they had pretty good security and I was acquainted with one of the bosses (because I met him at the Phish concert).
It is three blocks from my hypnosis business. I work seven days a week, twelve hours a day. Five days during the week, I play hypnotist. Four days of the week, I play insurance agent. The weekends, I do a bit of both.
I never thought it was going to come in handy.
It did yesterday.
My uncle married a greedy lady. I know it's not nice to say but it's the truth.
When my mother died, my maternal aunt took me in. She didn't want to be a mother so she gave absconded leaving me to live with my maternal uncle.
He traveled a lot. I spent most of my teenage years basically alone.
When I was sixteen, my uncle met a redheaded Russian woman.
She was abusive.
One day, my step-father and I overheard her bragging to a cousin saying "when the old man dies, we will get everything" during my grandparent's 50th anniversary party.
We told my grandfather.
He changed his will.
She became incredibly abusive. She'd dig out my tampons from the trash and put them around the house right before company came over. Then she'd embarrass me.
I told my uncle. He called me a liar.
Still in high school and too young to enter into a legal agreement, I moved out of the house and into a scary part of Denver.
I visited my grandfather three days a week.
One day, when I was 24, his speech was slurred. I called a friend who told me to call his Medical Power of Attorney because my Grandfather had a stroke.
I called my aunt so she could tell my uncle.
While my grandfather was in the hospital, my uncle and greedy wife sold his house, all of his belongings and used the money to build an addition to their home. I bought what I could afford to buy to give back to my grandfather. I bought his favorite clock and things he cooked with. I returned them.
My uncle and his wife were punished by the city - the city valued their addition at $500,000. Their home was previously assessed at $60,000. Their taxes skyrocketed.
I guess that was Karma.
Grandfather recovered from the stroke and had no where to go. He wound up living with my uncle and his wife. He would tell me that his money was gone and that my uncle's wife would demand money from him daily.
He didn't live very long after that. When he died, they tried to give me 1/8 of the insurance money (my mother's portion divided in two for my sister and I). My sister and I were too pissed off at my uncle to take it.
I honestly thought of the money as blood money. In my mind, it was cursed.
If you see the painful things happening in my uncle's life, you might think it was cursed, too.
*****
Well.....I've avoided my relatives because of the stalking and the crazy crap in my life. They didn't want to hear about it. I'd talk to them about being stalked by my in-laws and they would hang up me. Yeah, they're right. I am too negative.
I keep to myself.
I got a frantic call the other day from a relative. The aunt who abandoned me as a child was in the hospital.
She didn't have a stroke.
They think she had sleep apnea and didn't wear her oxygen. She awoke and fainted.
My uncle and his wife were talking about selling my aunt's house to hide the money from Medicaid*.
Now.....my aunt is smart. She designated my twin nephews as her Medical Powers of Attorney. One is in medical school. She always rescued them when their mother was in trouble. That woman raised them. She is, for all intents and purposes, their psychological mother.
Their mother manages a skilled nursing facility. She gave them a list of resources.
My uncle and his wife were still talking about selling my aunt's house.
They don't know what is wrong with her. They insist that they have to sell her house and hide the money so that Medicaid will pay for her nursing home care while she recovers and home health services if needed.
I asked why they were jumping the gun.
I was told it was because her insurer (an HMO) does not cover skilled nursing care or home health services for Medicare recipients. Medicare requires it. People get at least 100 days of skilled nursing care under Medicare. The first 20 days are at no cost (after deductibles). The trick is to make sure that one has been in the hospital for at
least three days as an inpatient.
I asked who her carrier was.
I sell for that carrier. In fact, I sell many of the policies that my aunt holds on a weekly basis.
The first twenty days at a skilled nursing facility is $0.
Days 20-100 have a $40 co-payment.
Part time home health services are covered for home bound seniors with a physician's approval at no cost.
I asked them to download the Evidence of Coverage and look it up for themselves.
As I spoke, my relative felt reassured. We need to wait until the diagnosis has been made. We need to remind my uncle who holds the Power of Attorney for my aunt.
My relative remarked that it was great that I held that job at that time.
I was able to give them the confidence to stand up to my uncle and his wife.
Everything happens for a reason.
If I hadn't stormed out of a concert crying because my boyfriend left me alone in the stands, I wouldn't have met my boss.
I wouldn't have known how to motivate my relatives to stand up to my uncle and his wife.
Couldn't they at least wait until a diagnosis has been made?
I know that carrier offers second opinions, too.
*****
The funniest part of this story is that my uncle's greedy wife called me to tell me that my uncle wants to talk to me.
I was busy today. I had a job interview. I had to answer a subpoena. I had to get everything notarized and copied so I can send them to a reporter. I'm still debating going to the press. Then I had to spend an hour in line at the post office so I could send the lawyer's requested information via certified mail. I had to meet with a mediator who told me that my issue with my ex isn't really a good fit for mediation, she urged me to hire a lawyer. I had two hypnosis clients.
I had too many excuses to call my uncle to hear the BS.
I'll call him when we know what is going on.
It makes me wonder.....maybe there is a reason things happen the way they do.
Maybe it's not a bad thing to grab opportunities, even when you're not sure they are what you want.
I wonder why I had to run into Ascension Health......what's the lesson there?
I seriously debated opening a second business under the name Ascension Insurance - just to be a brat. Years ago, I learned that the best advertising is my name. The problem is that using my name brings out my ex's family. They scare me. DBA names are not as good as using your name.
Neither Ascension Health nor Ascension Insurance are registered in my state. I don't know why they brought me into their argument. I'm not fun to argue with. I like to give money to politicians that promise to limit abuses of the law (trademark, subpoena and others). I also like to fight tax hikes that Catholic organizations demand while complaining publicly about abuse of taxpayer dollars (e.g. Medicare and Medicaid fraud).
* I applied for a job as a Medicaid investigator several months ago. I think I may print out some information about how the state tracks down assets that have been hidden and give that to my uncle.
Oh well....my attention has been shifted to things that need repaired in our judicial system. I guess I guess I can find something useful to do now.
******
I tried to talk to Michael about moving out. He doesn't want me to move out. He doesn't want to talk about moving out. I feel guilty when I try to talk to him. I don't know why.
He doesn't really talk to me. He doesn't give me answers. When I ask what he wants, he tells me it doesn't matter. I feel like I'm going crazy. I'm getting depressed. I can't stop crying.
I'm thinking that the only way for me to stay safe is to cut my losses and give everything to him.
I'm that scared.
I wish I knew what to do.
I asked him to take my name off of the marital checking account. He said he'd never do that. I think he's trying to set us up as common law married. I don't use that account. He was supposed to sign it over to me -but- he claims to have deposits coming into it, so I won't close it out.
I have no clue what is in it.
I could always keep myself busy fighting wars with stupid people. It boggles my mind when I think of how many people ruin their lives putting up with dysfunctional people.
I've got too many important things to do right now.
Love ya,
S.
