1:09 PM: I have just sat down in the lobby of the Social Security office here in Spokane. I am here because…well, it all started a while back. Fortunately, I’m here in the Social Security office and I expect to be here for at least an hour and a half. So, I have the time to tell the whooooole story.
Back in July, Susan and I drove down to Palo Alto, CA to find out if I qualify for a heart/lung transplant. At that time, after a battery of tests, they sent us home for more tests.
We’re heading back down in about a week and hopefully we will get the word that we can get on the list. Or not. But at least we’ll have an answer.
Among the things they want from me are a bunch of vaccinations. The last one I have to get is a Covid booster.
Last week, I went to my neighborhood Walgreen’s to get my Covid vax. Walgreen’s said they couldn’t get the approval from Medicare to give a shot.
I went home and got on line with a Medicare chatbot. Once I finally connected to a human on the chat, I explained the problem and they responded with “everything looks fine with my account.
On Saturday, I returned to Walgreen’s and again ran into the same problem. This time, I had them print out the screen that said I was being rejected because my name was invalid.
Today, I finally had some time to get on the phone with Medicare and wait on hold until I could talk to someone.
I waited about 17 minutes and connected with Adara. I explained my problem. She looked through some stuff and said it appears Social Security has changed my name. Nothing major, they just removed the “Jr.” Anyway, that appears to be enough to screw up everything about my Medicare and Social Security.
So here I sit. The number they gave me is A40. I just heard A16 called.
There is a sign right in front of me that says appointments are required. The number to call is 866-331-5532. I’m thinking I will go back out to the truck and call the number.
It’s taken me almost half an hour to write all this out and frankly, I don’t feel like waiting. I’m outta here!
5:01PM: I got home and got on the phone to Social Security to make an appointment. After about a 15 minute wait, I got connected to a very helpful lady who told me the name on my account is as it should be. Stanley J. Burke, Jr.
We made an appointment anyway, which is coming up immediately on October 3rd at 9:30.
Prior to the call, I tried to get on my SSA account on line. It is suddenly not accepting my password. So I tried to re-set my password. I got an e-mail saying I had successfully changed my password. I then tried to access the account and it told me “no”. “Wrong Password!”
I did this three times. During my call, I asked the agent if she could walk me through re-setting my password. She told me they don’t do that any more. She said they have passed that type of thing off to the Post Office. Doesn’t that sound like great government efficiency?
