Today was Sadie's six month doctors appointment and she was supposed to get another round of immunizations. I'm much less nervous about the shots now. In the beginning I was a wreck (although I think Sadie remembers them, because she definitely did not want to be in the doctor's office). We knew that Sadie had a cold when we went in to see the doctor, but we didn't know that she also had an ear infection. The ear tugging should have given it away, but she also tugs her ears when she's sleepy and she's been very sleepy lately. Anyways, it was, in fact, an ear infection. Now we have to wait two weeks for immunizations. But there was also good news. I have to start my good news with a small rant.
I do not understand the state of California. I have heard a great many things about the First Five and Healthy Families Programs. Unfortunately we have not been able to experience those great things for Sadie. You see, you have to make a certain amount of money to qualify for Healthy Families (which is real health insurance where you can go to the doctor of your choice, instead of Medi-Cal where you pretty much end up at a clinic). We do not make enough money to qualify. But it gets worse.
We went to apply to Medi-Cal. I was desperate to get Sadie some sort of health coverage. I filled out all of the Medi-Cal forms back in September and had them turned in before the first week of October. When I turned them in the girl at the front desk actually complemented me on the fact that all the papers that they needed were there. We were given a temporary Medi-Cal card when we were rejected by Healthy Families, but our name was misspelled and Sadie's birthday was off by five years. I went in and told them. And then when I called to ask a question they didn't recognize our real name and so I told them again. They put a sticky note on our file.
December rolled around and we still hadn't heard anything. I called again. I was put through to the woman who is supposed to be handling our file. Voice mail. Her voice mail instructions were very clear. She said the leave a message with your phone number and social security number, or Medi-Cal number. She ended by saying not to call twice, because of the volume of calls she received, that if you left a message that she would, eventually, contact you, either by mail or by phone. It's been about a month since I left that message and we still haven't heard anything. Medi-Cal refused our doctor's bill. Our doctor is trying to bill them again, because apparently Medi-Cal told them that they couldn't even find our file, possibly because the last name and birthday on it are still wrong.
Now for the good news! It was a pleasant surprise when we handed our Medi-Cal card over at the pharmacy (Sadie need antibiotics for her ear) and they said that the co-pay was $0. I almost started jumping up and down. I didn't ask them if they were sure it was right, because I was afraid they might change their minds. Hopefully this means that we now have health insurance. And with the help of Paul's Cal Trans paycheck this month we might actually qualify for Healthy Families! If that happens I really will be jumping up and down.
Sadie gobbled up the antibiotics. It is cherry, vanilla, banana flavored and she looked like a little bird trying to get more food when she tilted her head back to try to get more medicine out of the dropper. She should be feeling better soon and hopefully this will help her cold too.
We're celebrating New Years on East Coast Time because no one in this house is going to be awake at midnight (unless Sadie's hungry around that time). Happy New Year!
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