Before I retired last August, after the death of my soul mate and best friend, I always had my own private insurance. I was with a company for years and years. I paid my premium and they paid the bills. I had the very minimum of co-payment's  to make and there was no list of medicine or medical treatments that was not covered.....My doctor made those decisions not the politicians in Washington.

After I retired,I went down to the SS place and took a number. In that little room there were many, many people there with a host of children signing up for Medicaid...... Finally they called my number and I was searched before I went to the back to be seated in front of the desk of the Social Security Agent. . The security officer ran  a metal detector over my body. OMG, I thought this is going to be interesting. They also had a security guard wearing a pistol on duty that watched over everyone and when your number was called he opened the door to the "Social Security Office" for you. After the other man run the metal detector over my body.

When I told the agent in the office that I was there to sign up for my Social security, and that my husband had just passed, she told me that I would be better off drawing his SS rather than mine. No problem. His was a few dollars more per month. Then she began to tell me about Medicare, part A, B, and RX Part D. Said I'd have to chose my own Part D.

I said, "wait a minute"..... I don't want Medicare part A, B and or D. I want to pay my own insurance premium and forget the Medicare part A, B ,D and what ever else there is. I'd rather not be bothered with all the hassle as I had heard hundreds of stories regarding all this crap about Medicare and all its parts.

She looked at me over the top of her eye glasses, as her head tilted downward and her eye glasses fell down to the end of her nose and said
"Lady, you don't have a choice.".......

Now I ask you in the name of FREEDOM, Where is freedome in that?

Okay, I have to do what "the law" says, so I do what I have to do.In a few weeks I received in the mail my "Red, White and Blue" Medicare card.  Then weeks went by and I had a visit or two at the doctors office for minor things and medicare Part B sent back that I was not covered. You see I kept my private insurance coverage but it became "secondary".

I sent letter after letter stating my last day of employment and even sent them a copy of my "separation" notice from my job. Sent it to the Appeals People listed on the invoice they returned to me stating "NOT Qualified"

This went on and one and on. I finally decided to call once again and as you probably know when you call Medicare you can bet you'll hold the phone at least 20 minutes. When I got the clerk at this paticular Appeals Office I asked to speak to an administrator. After listening to an  automated voice say: "I can understand when you talk." MY God, I thought they all could understand when I talked. How did they get a job?

Anyway, I punched in about 3 different numbers from the "menu" she listed,  and it always said to listen carefully as "OUR MENU HAS CHANGED AND YOUR CONVERSATION MAY BE RECORDED". Damn, I don't care if they record what I have to say. And I told the "administrator" after holding on the line for about 30 minutes, ( I asked for her name), that if she could not fix my problem, that she would be getting a call from my attorney.

Lord have mercy. What does a senior citizen have to look forward to when they retire? This kind of crap or what?

I wish that all government officials had to retire and take care of their own switching over from a working class individual to a retired SENIOR CITIZEN. I just betcha' things would change and a lot of this "red tape" would change and seniors like me would not have to spend days, and in general "waste my time" because of someone else's mess- ups or plain old negligence. And it wouldn't take them long to do it either.

I'm just Mollie in Georgia