cbg
Super Moderator
I answer pretty much the same as Cynthia.
Mental Health Thread #3 - Any vacations planned?
- Thread Starter Betty3
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Betty3
Well-Known Member
If I knew it was the spouse calling, I would give more information but normally stuck with non personal replies.
ferretrick
Member
I can't see anything wrong with saying a generalization like he's out to lunch or out sick or on a personal day or whatever. I think it's better than away from his desk or away from the office, b/c then the caller knows not to expect a call back within a few minutes. I wouldn't tell people anything more specific like he took a personal day to attend his kid's play or went backpacking in Europe or he has a 105 degree fever or anything like that.
I had one employee (a housekeeper at a fitness gym) refuse to sign that she had RECEIVED the PPACA notice, not even that she read or agreed with it...just that she got it!
At the time, she had requested that HR fill out a form for welfare benefits since she has been out on FMLA and intermittent.....oh the paperwork I have completed for this employee. I told the manager to tell her it was insubordination for her to refuse to sign and was she wanting to keep her job? Oh, and I held the other form until I knew for sure she had signed.....
ARGH! All it stated was that she had no health insurance coverage through our company! I hate when the government requires employers to communicate their programs to our employees because they can't seem to do it well enough themselves! Do I wish we could provide health insurance coverage to all employees? Sure, but honestly some months we aren't making enough to pay rent....
At the time, she had requested that HR fill out a form for welfare benefits since she has been out on FMLA and intermittent.....oh the paperwork I have completed for this employee. I told the manager to tell her it was insubordination for her to refuse to sign and was she wanting to keep her job? Oh, and I held the other form until I knew for sure she had signed.....
ARGH! All it stated was that she had no health insurance coverage through our company! I hate when the government requires employers to communicate their programs to our employees because they can't seem to do it well enough themselves! Do I wish we could provide health insurance coverage to all employees? Sure, but honestly some months we aren't making enough to pay rent....
Betty3
Well-Known Member
I think a person just needs to use good judgment as the bottom line.
HR I hear ya. I'm getting pretty tired of the govt mandates to employers for notices. I once had the dentist office hand me a slip of paper to sign that stated I had received their privacy notice. I had not. When I asked her for it, she rolled her eyes, showed me their laminated copy and said she would make me a copy if I insisted, like I was being unreasonable. When I gently reminded her that she was asking me to sign that I HAD received a copy, she just gave me a blank stare.
cbg
Super Moderator
In MA, because we've had mandatory health insurance for years now, we have had a mandatory, state required form that had to be completed IF AND ONLY IF you were declining the employer-offered insurance. This of course did not stop plenty of people from signing it when they didn't have to. But we were also required to follow up with those who did decline and politely ask them again. We would pre-fill the form for them so that all they had to do was check off one box that acknowledged they had other insurance and sign their name. We still would get complaints - why do I have to waste my time filling out this form? I have insurance through my husband/wife/domestic partner and he/she works here too, why don't you KNOW that I have other insurance?
Well, for one thing, we have 17,000 benefits eligible employees and we don't have them cross referenced by family member. For another thing, you and your spouse/domestic partner have different last names so we're supposed to know that you're married how? Finally, you have to fill it out because THE STATE GOVERNMENT SAYS YOU DO. We certainly don't want several thousand pieces of paper that we have to scan into your file that we don't have to, and if you'd clicked on one check box online way back when you were first hired you wouldn't have to. But you didn't, so now get your frickin' rear in gear and sign the frickin' form already?
Well, for one thing, we have 17,000 benefits eligible employees and we don't have them cross referenced by family member. For another thing, you and your spouse/domestic partner have different last names so we're supposed to know that you're married how? Finally, you have to fill it out because THE STATE GOVERNMENT SAYS YOU DO. We certainly don't want several thousand pieces of paper that we have to scan into your file that we don't have to, and if you'd clicked on one check box online way back when you were first hired you wouldn't have to. But you didn't, so now get your frickin' rear in gear and sign the frickin' form already?
cbg
Super Moderator
Can we tell that we just sent out the, "Our records do not show that you have completed this mandatory form" email just before I left on vacation?
But it's the last one we'll ever have to send, thank goodness. With the advent of the PPACA, MA has withdrawn the form and we only have to get it signed for the early part of this year before they did so.
But it's the last one we'll ever have to send, thank goodness. With the advent of the PPACA, MA has withdrawn the form and we only have to get it signed for the early part of this year before they did so.
Betty3
Well-Known Member
You "guys" working in HR/Benefits have so much fun! Lucky 
lda01
New Member
As of 12:01 this morning I am on Medicare and several suppliments. This has been a journey! Over the last few months I, and my wife who is the same age, have received enough insurance advdertising to fill several garbage bags. Somewhere in that pile is also 5-10 pounds of manuals from the government, extolling the virtues of the The System. Lets see, I have writen a three-month premium check for the part B suppliment to one ins. company, another one for the part D suppliment to another. Then one to the government for the Medicare part B premium since I'm not retired yet where they can withhold it form SS check.
An then there was the debacle caused by the agent giving us a discount which it seems we weren't entitled too. This caused "no-issue" on the coverage for both of us, which was a particular concern since my spouse was on her way to surgery at the time. Wrote checks for the difference (just for one month mind you). After many calls and much teeth gnashing I have been assured that we are covered, even though we still have no proof of coverage 8 weeks after writing the check for the plan.
Silver lining: If it's true that I am covered, the total cost of all these plans (plus my employer-based dental plan) is about 60% of what I was paying for company insurance and waaaaay better coverage (or so I'm told). Now my challenge is to find doctors that will take Medicare patients, it seems that most in my area won't. Wish someone had told me that getting old was going to be so much fun.
An then there was the debacle caused by the agent giving us a discount which it seems we weren't entitled too. This caused "no-issue" on the coverage for both of us, which was a particular concern since my spouse was on her way to surgery at the time. Wrote checks for the difference (just for one month mind you). After many calls and much teeth gnashing I have been assured that we are covered, even though we still have no proof of coverage 8 weeks after writing the check for the plan.
Silver lining: If it's true that I am covered, the total cost of all these plans (plus my employer-based dental plan) is about 60% of what I was paying for company insurance and waaaaay better coverage (or so I'm told). Now my challenge is to find doctors that will take Medicare patients, it seems that most in my area won't. Wish someone had told me that getting old was going to be so much fun.
Betty3
Well-Known Member
I'm already retired & still getting a bunch of insurance advertisements though maybe not as many as you. What a lot of paper!
I've been through it twice -- once with my elderly employer (owner of most of the company) and once with my parents. It's crazy honestly and it is a big part of what worries me about the ACA and the government being so involved in health coverage for so many more people.
And yes, my parents have had to switch drs a few times because their primary drs have stopped taking Medicare. That worries me a bit too....
And yes, my parents have had to switch drs a few times because their primary drs have stopped taking Medicare. That worries me a bit too....
Betty3
Well-Known Member
Whoa! - glad they are on their way back.
Gstone
Member
Hey Betty.........Congrats on your Cards!
Betty3
Well-Known Member
Thank you very much - Cardinal Nation is very happy. I guess I should say congrats to cbg also on her Red Sox.
Both of you might meet up. I'm a little apprehensive because I'll not know which legal eagle's team to root for. The Cardinals are by far the best run team in baseball along with the Oakland A's to a lesser extent. Every year they put up a reasonably competitive product on the field at a price below the perennial league leaders. Good luck in round two!!!
cbg
Super Moderator
Excuse me? Who clinched home field advantage, was the first American League team to clinch a playoff spot, and has already advanced to the ALCS?
Oakland A's my (bleep)
Oakland A's my (bleep)
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