Eagles Over the Kennebec

So, yesterday. . .

I had some bagels from the bakery down on Bay Street.  Let me just say. . .Worst. Bagel. EVER.  Steve asked me what was wrong with it.  I said, "Christian bagel."  Seriously, bagels shouldn't crumb like bread.  Also? Ideally, they should taste like. . .bagels.

Anyhow, I gave Steve a ten dollar bill and asked him to please stop at Bagel Mania on his way home from getting his car's oil changed and tires rotated to buy me some REAL bagels.

Ten bucks buys 15 bagels from Bagel Mania, most of which are now residing in the freezer, but of course I held some out for Immediate Consumption, and had one for breakfast this morning.  Mmmmm, bagel.

After the Great Bagel Influx, and lunch, we went down to the contractor's office, credit card in hand, and put half down on the generator.  It has to be ordered in, so the installation date at this point is the ever-popular "couple of weeks."  Part of today's excitement will be to call the propane company and get ourselves on their radar.

Then we went for a Plot Drive, up and aroundish, through Athens, Harmony, Canaan, and suchlike.  Back home, I discovered Yet Another communication from the ACA, instructing me to immediately do something that it was impossible to do, even though meticulous following of their directions did not produce the described result (Honest to ghu, the ACA has gotten me to the point that I doubt my own sanity.  I had Steve come into my office to read and follow the instructions, and -- they didn't work for him, either.  What a relief.)

After that, we threw in the towel and watched Big Hero 6.  The coon cats are big Baymax fans, while Scrabble's hero is GoGo.

Today started with a phone call to the ACA to be Perfectly Sure that the urgent email could be ignored.  Then, I called the local health insurance provider and had them go through my regular meds, and. . .today I will regretfully be moving my prescriptions to Hannaford, where the cost for all three will be $0, as opposed to $110.

I'm really ambivalent about this; I've been with CVS since we moved to Waterville -- twenty years and counting -- but money talks.

And I'm really ambivalent about that.

For those who may have an interest, the Seventh and Last Week of the Do It Like A Delm Challenge began yesterday!  We have three entrants so far, but we're waiting to see yours!

Here's a link to the rules.

Here's a link to this week's entries thus far.

Speaking of Doing It Like A Delm, Offworld Designs is (again) taking orders for Liaden Universe® t-shirts, polos, and long-sleeve denim.  In addition to looking positively delm-like on you, these shirts make fine presents.  I hear there's a Big, Present-Giving Holiday coming up in a few months -- and here's the thing you need to pay attention to:  OffWorld Designs makes embroiders and screenprint these to order.  That means that they wait until they have a Big Pile of orders before doing the printing and embroidery.  So you want to order early (and often) if you want to be sure to have gifts for Christmas.

Here's your link to Offworld Designs Liaden Universe® infopage.  NOTE:  you need to click the thumbnails for pricing and product details.

In Weather News, we here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory are at about a week of rain, starting this afternoon, so if I want to go into town, I'd better get moving.

Here, have a picture of Trooper waiting for the rain.

It's being something of a zoo this week here at the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.

On Monday, we did a lovely Skype interview with John Mierau at Patreon, which will be going up on youtube, in the fullness of time.  We'll let y'all know when it's available.

Today, the generator guy came and scoped out The Situation.  He was supposed to have come by on Tuesday, but. . .didn't.  I'm not sure what's with that, but I remember a wise man once told me that contractors run on their own time.  Anyhow, he promises an estimate this week, so that's in process.

In and around these generally benign events, I have been having. . .discussions, as in multiple hour-long phone calls with the ACA and the local health insurer, Community Health Options. Which has officially been No Fun At All.

First, I got a phone call from the ACA on Monday morning, wherein I was informed that, since I had submitted a Change of Income, the person making my new eligibility determination noticed that I had not "attested to" last year's income.  I needed to call a representative, she said, and do that.  Any rep who answered the phone would be able to do that.

. . .Now, I actually know better than this, because I had been for many years a secretary, and I am Very Aware that, when the instructions include a variation of, "Call this person, say this, and they will know exactly what you mean" -- they won't.  No one will know anything even approaching what I mean, and if I have not elicited Actual Hard Facts that bear directly on What This is Actually About from the person for whom I am making the call,  it will end up taking days to resolve this One Really Simple Thing.

With that said -- no, the rep who answered the phone on Tuesday at the ACA had no idea what "attesting" to last year's income was, nor did her supervisor.  Her supervisor, however, recalculated my eligibility, which was not what I wanted, at all.  I wrote a letter, explaining what had happened, and why, and logged into the ACA website to upload it -- only to find that, if the ACA isn't expecting to receive documentation from you?  There is no option to upload documents.

Unwisely, then, I tried to go into my (new) application and see if there wasn't something there. . .got twisted around and called the ACA back, hoping they'd bail me out.

The rep I spoke to this time also didn't know what "attesting" income was, and said that 2014's income was completely beside the point, this being 2015.  She also told me that the ACA representative who had handled my first policy change, back in July, when Steve went on Medicare, had just cut my Best Guess at Income for both of us in half, and had figured my monthly payment/subsidies from there, and that this was Utterly Wrong.

Apparently, we still count Steve's income, even though he's on Medicare and I'm only looking for a policy for myself, and that! amount! put me over all the subsidy limits, and -- long story short -- it appears that, because of this, my insurance has been canceled.  If it hasn't been canceled, I'll be in the happy position of having to pay something on the order of $2,000/month for health insurance, but I can't find the amount for certain, because Community Health Options only allows access to its plan descriptions and prices during Open Enrollment, which this is not.

Today, I was supposed to call CHO to find out if, in fact, my insurance is canceled, and -- if it has been, what do I do now? if it hasn't, how much will it cost to maintain the policy?

I did not make that phone call today; since I had lots of leftover frustration from yesterday to work with.  Today, I refined a scene that I'd written over the weekend, and then wrote a few more words in a forwarder direction.

Tomorrow, I will have to call CHO, and try to straighten this out, and, man, am I looking forward to that.  Not.

In the meantime, the nights are getting seriously chilly and the day-temps aren't really exerting themselves above the middish 70sF, so, yes, winter is coming.  And very possibly with bells on.

And, to pay you for your patience in allowing me to vent, have a look at this place -- a college of fools, just outside of Paris.  Here's the link.

This is offered as a public service.

Asyouknowbob, back in 2013, Steve and I were paying (pre-ACA) Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maine $670/month for placeholder insurance.  Which is to say, we paid them $8,040 annually for a card that proved we had insurance. The company paid for nothing; there was no co-pay; we carried all medical expenses out-of-pocket, in addition to that $670/month, and the deductible was nearing $100,000.

We were therefore Quite Excited when the ACA (ObamaCare) arrived, though Maine is one of the states that refused to set up its own marketplace, because politics, so we were required to buy insurance through the national marketplace.

Now, the thing about the ACA is that an applicant must provide an estimate of the year's income in order to arrive at a premium amount.  This is in direct opposition to Anthem's flat-rate system.  Unfortunately, it is very, very hard for freelancers, and other self-employed people to predict future earnings with any amount of accuracy.  In addition, a freelancer doesn't have the money until they have the money, and sometimes checks are years in the mail.

In order to get a baseline income for our household, I averaged our IRS income for the past five years.  In order to arrive at an estimate of 2014 income, I subtracted all the 2013 income that I knew would not repeat in 2014, including such things as the upfront money for six novels; the Audible "honoraria," &c.

When the dust cleared, I had in hand a figure that seemed fair and reasonable to me, given that (this is key) I couldn't begin to guess how much, if any, royalties we would see in 2014, for sales made in 2013.

Long story short, for most of the year, I guessed right.  I did have to prove myself to the government at least twice during the year, providing up-to-date profit-and-loss statements, but mostly we were on-target.

Now, here's the thing about the ACA.

You tell the government what your income is/will be.  The government then decides how much help in the form of tax credits you will receive, in order to make your health insurance payment "affordable," like it says in the small print.

Tax credits come off the top of your premium.  So, if the Real Monthly Cost for your insurance plan is $500, but your income level won't support that payment, then the government will offer to pay $X on your behalf to the insurance company.  So, for instance, your $500 plan may only cost you, out of pocket every month, $200. (NOTE:  These numbers are pulled out of my head to serve as an example; each tax credit case is individually figured by the ACA.)

So!  It came about, there at the end of 2013, making the best guess possible about 2014 income, that we were eligible for government tax credits.  We did not take all of the credits offered to us, rather, we picked a number -- $400.22 -- that we could comfortably cover for our monthly premium.

Let me say that, unlike the Anthem insurance, the ACA insurance (which we have through Maine Community Health Options) has things like co-pays, and an out-of-pocket ceiling; some of Steve's heart medicine costs nothing; others of our drugs are quite affordable; none cost more than $15, and often much less.  The MCHO plan is, in my opinion, far superior to the plan we had with Anthem.  It is a plan that we could never have afforded with Anthem.

Cut to the end of the year, and the blessed arrival of the October royalties, in which I discovered that I had not only guessed wrong on our estimated income, I had guessed really wrong.

This is a good thing, so we took a moment to dance.  We ought to celebrate earning lots more money than we thought we were going to earn.  We did good. Go, us.

After we had danced, I skinned 33% off the top of the check for our taxes (which is usual), did a quick-and-dirty profit-and-loss, and called the ACA to "adjust" our 2014 income.

Now, here's the other thing with the ACA -- there's no penalty, should you happen to have wrongly guessed your annual income.  The only thing you have to do?

Is pay the tax credits back.

And it came about that the October royalties had totally wiped out any reason for the government to grant us tax credits so we could afford insurance.  We could afford insurance just fine on our own.

So, we had to pay back all of the credits we had accepted in the first part of the year.

Which meant that, counting the $400.22/month that we did pay, and the credits we had to pay back, that our 2014 monthly health insurance premium came to. . .

$1400.25

. . .which we could not have covered during any month of the year, except this month.

So, the lesson here is. . .the "Affordable" in "Affordable Care Act," is. . .subject to interpretation.  I don't happen to think that a $1400/month premium is at all affordable, and would not, as stated above, been able to afford the payment for 11 months of 2014.

However, the ACA did allow us to have health insurance for those 11 months, by granting us the opportunity of paying a lower monthly premium that was more in keeping with our income for those 11 months.

Looking forward, because of course, we just finished the 2015 enrollment period, in which one needs to provide an estimate of 2015's income, we used the system we used to estimate 2014's income.  The system generates an estimated income that triggers the tax credit payment.  I will have to provide a profit-and-loss to the government by February 15 (as I had to do, last year) defending my estimate.  As much as I hated seeing another 33% of my income peeled off of that royalty check after the taxes were paid, at least we could afford to pay back the tax credits, and we were covered all year at a cost that was, yes, affordable.

This morning, we arose from our rosy bower to an outside temperature of 16F/-9C and an inside temperature of 61F/16C.  We turned the thermostat up to 69F/21C, Steve started breakfast; I fed Mozart his breakfast; we sat down to eat; finished up; had a second cup of coffee and. . . it was still sorta cool in the house.

Steve looked at the thermostat, which was set on 69F but still reporting the whole-house temp of 61F.  It then dawned on both of us that we hadn't heard the furnace actually come on, so Steve went downstairs to see if we had a malfunction.  The good news?  The furnace appears in good working order, as far as we can tell without it actually, yanno, coming on.  And the reason it hasn't come on is?

We're out of oil.

Completely out of oil.

I'm trying to remember if this has ever happened to us before.  Certainly, it hasn't happened in the 24-or-so years we've been in this house, thanks to the wonders of automatic delivery.

Thinking back, now, I'm not remembering a delivery in. . .a couple months.  Which is what I'll settle with Dead River Company on Monday (oh, joy!  a phone call.), since they've certainly been remembering to bill us every month.  For today, we called the Emergency Number, which isn't easy to find, and have now spoken with Gary the Emergency Delivery Guy, who will be over "directly" to fill us up.

In other news, I have in my inbox this morning not one, not two, but THREE reminders from Various Organizations relating the joyous news that the open renewal period for ACA coverage starts today!  Which is lovely for them.  I?  Have no idea how we're going to figure out next year's health coverage, without having any idea what the final income figure for 2014 is.  We only have to cover Steve through July, when he transfers over to Medicare.  I suppose I can go without, if necessary, and pay the fine, though I really don't like to tempt fate quite that much. . .

Well.

Now to put all that behind me and get the heck to work.

Everybody stay warm.  And healthy.

So, the mail.

Of greatest importance was, of course, our Determination from the Health Insurance Marketplace, which was to tell us whether or not we can have the insurance we've been enrolled in since January.  We opened this document with trepidation, only to find that they need one more document from us before they can make a determination.  They need. . .wait for it. . .

They need a copy of a document that proves our citizenship and our identity.  Because, yanno, copies of our tax returns just didn't cut it.

So, I guess I'm glad we renewed our passports earlier this year.

Of second greatest importance -- royalty statements!  And!  royalty checks!

If you bought a copy of Necessity's Child in signed or plain vanilla hardcover, or as an ebook?  That bagpipe band you hear coming around the corner is FOR YOU!

. . .and now, I'm off to town to do errands.  It's a pretty day, and I'm looking forward to the drive.

Hope everyone is having as pleasant a Monday as it's possible to have.

We are having Weather.  Rain, freezing rain, ice pellets.  Our cars are coated, as is the driveway and the road.  When the town plow went by, a couple hours ago, it sounded like it was plowing glass.

So, staying in is the plan, here at the Cat Farm.  Tomorrow's plan had involved a drive in a southwardly direction, but that may have to be put on hold, dernit.  Never mind the ice (the weatherbeans had been calling for 45F/7C today, and it hasn't gotten much above 35F/2C -- and that's an important 10-or-5 degrees) -- but there are flood warnings all over the state.

Argh.

In slightly more cheering news -- frequent readers of this blog will recall that, through sheer stubborness and not a little good luck, Steve and I enrolled in the Federal Government's Health Marketplace (Maine being one of those states with a Republican governor, who steadfastly refuses to allow a state exchange, because Socialism).  We're paying $200-ish less each month in premiums for what looked like, on paper, to be superior coverage.

Today, I had my first test-drive of the new coverage.  Two drugs that I take daily had to be renewed, so I called the drugstore and did the deed.  Since I had new insurance, the pharmacy aide had to look up some things and make a couple phone calls, but at the end of all that is this. . .

The total for filling my two prescriptions at my local drugstore, for a 90 day supply of each, which is what I always get, and which, under the $700-ish/month Anthem plan used to cost me a total of $136.92, today cost me $60.50.

So far, I'm a satisfied customer.

This has been a rather trying day, compounded by the fact that not! one! single! word! has gotten from my head to my manuscript, not for lack of trying, but for lack of knowing which of three pivotal scenes that set up the next half of the book need to happen first.  Anybody got a three-sided coin I can flip?

I began my day by stepping on Scrabble, hard.  Completely by accident, of course, but tell her that.  I am a Bad, Evil Catmom, so I am, and I fully expect to hear from the CommitteeCat down to Boston in a couple days.  It used to be that these matters were handled immediately by the Portland CommitteeCat, but in these thin-stretched times, the union has had to consolidate territories.  That means a week or so lag time, by which point both Scrabble and I will have forgotten this Unfortunate Incident, but the paperwork will still need to be satisfied.

I also spent a lot of time on the phone today learning the difference between "free" and "free" when applied to health insurance coverage, and what coding means to me.  I'm better informed, but more depressed, now.

In relation to catastrophes, my colleague D.B. Jackson is doing a fundraiser for the victims of the Boston Marathon Bombing victims.  Read all about it here and please help if you can.

The capping catastrophe of the day is the news that Andy Offutt (andrew j. offutt) has died.  I was fond of Andy; as a beginning writer, he welcomed me unreservedly into the profession and he was, in our all-too-few dealings, kind and generous.

. . .I believe that I'll take a walk, now, and listen to the peepers.

Everybody have a good evening.

* * *

Progress on Carousel Seas

48,825/100,000 OR 48.83% complete

I looked at him in horror.

"Tell me I didn't kill Daknowyth."

"Katie. . ." Mr. Ignat' took my hands in his. His smile was fond, which didn't necessarily mean that I hadn't killed Daknowyth.

Feeling somewhat blue today.  You have been warned.

The mail deliveryperson continues to fail of delivering Items of Considerable Interest to the residents of the Cat Farm and Confusion Factory. Note to self: Look into arranging for a new mail deliveryperson.

Frequent readers of this journal will recall that Steve and I had been having a. . .discussion* with the insurance company about whether or not the cost of a diagnostic echocardiogram for a heart patient could ever be justified.  The doctor’s office finally prevailed, by, I assume, the time-consuming, but effective, means of burying the insurance company’s Denial of Service Division in forms, and the echocardiogram was, after about a month’s delay, performed.

We have now received the bill for that procedure, and I am able to tell you the sum of money that the insurance company was fighting to keep rightfully in the hands of its stockholders (who, as you all of course know, deserve a return on their investments).  That sum is. . .

$0.00

That’s right — nothing.  Not one thin dime.  We are responsible (as we knew we would be, since we have the Pay Anthem Blue Cross Six Bills a Month So We Can Have An Insurance Card insurance) for almost the entire amount of the bill.  I say “almost” because Anthem Blue Cross happily knocked $42.18 off the total due to the hospital.

Man, that was so totally worth a month-long tantrum.

. . .In other news, I have heard back from Himself in re the Carousel Tides t-shirt. I’ll be talking about that in a separate post a little later today. First, though, I need to do dishes.

______________
*By “discussion” I mean here that the insurance company kept repeating, “But, the expense!  Ow! OW! Our Stockholders’ Money!  Oh! my daughter!  OH! my ducats!”  while the doctor’s office kept filing forms indicating that the echocardiogram was the third corner in a diagnostic triangulation to be certain that the various therapies Steve is undertaking in order to improve his heart’s function are indeed working as desired.

. . .or maybe only Monday.

Well, I had great plans for today, chiefest among them wringing a complete first draft out of my underachieving brain and onto the page.  This did not happen.  Honest to ghu, how long can it take to write a single story?

I did shovel snow — the snow was wet, the day was warm — and took care of bidness correspondence, some of which begat more correspondence to be done, um, later.  I paid medical bills in-hand, and there’s still money in the checkbook.  I did the laundry.  I fell on Mozart, which may have been his plan, but wasn’t mine.  Just generally speaking, I’m at a point in my life where the less I fall down, the better I like it.  Reprising the role I play in Real Life, I have been an Evil Liberal on teh intertubes.  I did not do the dishes, because I didn’t want to.   I received the wisdom of the LJ Flist on iTunes, for which I thank everyone who shared very much.

. . .and that’s all the news &c.  Time for lunch and the girding of one’s loins for the morrow.

Progress on “Intelligent Design”
5,373 out of 10,000 words OR 53.73% complete