A game of ping-pong

The Maryland Department of Health apparently loves to play this game, especially with mothers (or other individuals) who need their assistance.

Due to the current instability of our work situations, I enrolled Noah in the Maryland Children's Health Program. This is the state's insurance program for children and families who, for some reason or another, are not able to get health assistance the 'normal' way. Even if our income increases we would still be eligible for this program but it would include a monthly payment of around 50-60 dollars or so. I'm not sure if all the states have a program like this but I surely hope so as this would help families significantly, as it will cover the child throughout their childhood up until they are about 19 years of age or so.

Well enrolling was quite easy, just call the toll free number and wait for a representative and once in contact with one we are set up within less than half an hour, which to me is just fantastic!
The frustrating part comes afterwards, as you need to wait for the effective date to set in but you have an appointment in 2 days and you're not sure if you should reschedule or not as the doctor's office said that everything should go well as long as they receive a fax but the state representative won't give you a fax and thus the ping-pong game begins.

You start with the MCO (managed care organization) representative, which you were told to contact because they should have the ID number so your little one can go see the doctor. The MCO representative though says that she can't do anything because you're not enrolled there yet as the effective date has not passed. She then tells you to call the enrollment counselor. So you do, and they then tell you to contact the Department of Health representative or case manager. After being on hold and listening to music that just seems to taunt your frustration by its slow and supposedly calming melody, you speak to a case manager who decides to be condescending and patronizing, making you feel a whole lot worse.

Insert a crying session here and that signals the end of the ping-pong game where the score is: State=1, you=0.

You should've rescheduled from the beginning but you wanted to see this through because you wanted the appointment to be over and done with. With what feels like your head hanging down low and your tail between your legs, you call the doctor's office with a resigning voice and reschedule the appointment to a week after the effective date.

Thankfully though, today, everything worked out quite well. Hopefully no more game of ping-pong for mommy, unless of course it's on the computer and she is winning. :-D