Pediheartrn Impressive progress and dedication - congrats!

Casey L So close!

originalorange I'm with you on the 'can always add more' philosophy. Sometimes it's a little better to keep the cash around a little longer and then pay the debt when you're sure you won't need the cash. I'd rather do that than backslide deeper into debt!

originalorange I tend to veer toward the same opinion as  farfromtheusual

Ruff16965 (05bd62cee897) Ugh!  That totally sucks!  It's so frustrating when everyone agrees that something should be paid and done with, and yet it itsn't.  Best of luck.

TheTabby About ready to write the House and Senate committees that oversee Medicare.

Ruff16965 (05bd62cee897) sounds like you might need to to get this whole thing straightened out.  It's scary when involving congress looks like it'll make things get done faster and better!

TheTabby The medical bill was from Feburary2017, I have been going round and round since May/June 2017. Medicare could not even find it until April of 2018, then I had to appeal it, I won was told to have the bills, there were 4 resubmitted. 3 have been paid, but the largest at $3,700 keeps getting bounced. Medicare has it farmed out and t I send in forms, they send back a request for the same forms. I call Medicare they say that I have to deal with the contractor, but they will only talk to doctor/hospital and they get nowhere with them. 

Ruff16965 (05bd62cee897) Contact your US Senators' or your US Representative's office - not the committee that has jurisdiction. Your own Senators and Representative each have a constituent office that help with these types of inquiries.  And because they represent you, they will be way more inclined to help you get a resolution.  They often can get the attention needed by the right people at the contractor to get it paid correctly.  And direct them to work with the contractor (I'm guessing a private insurer contracted with Medicare?). CMS (meaning the agency who runs Medicare) is too big a structure to get it resolved there.  You'll likely need to sign an authorization for release of private health information for your Senator or Representative to get you an answer, but a lot cheaper than hiring an attorney.  Good luck!

CMS, for what it's worth, is the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services - I only know that because I work on medical equipment, and well, technobabble that you probably don't care about.

Ruff16965 (05bd62cee897) If you are looking for Congress to help with your own specific problem, call your own Congressman.  See what they need in writing to help you out.  That's the one person/staff that will actually deal with your specific case.  They  represent you.  They are often slow to answer mail, but their staff will answer the phone and give you specific guidance about how they can best help you.

Writing to the committees may make the overall situation better known and could result in improvements to the system.  But they don't typically try to resolve individual cases.

Spring Green Rain MartyH Thank you for the advice. I do have what might seem like a strange question. Staying in CA with my parents helping them with health issues. However, my Drivers license and vehicle registration is Oklahoma, no current OK address though, the medical bill was from Oklahoma. Do I contact the CA Senators and Representatives or Oklahoma?

Ruff16965 (05bd62cee897) It depends on where you are registered to vote. Based on your voter registration location, you would contact your representatives from that district.

Spring Green Rain Registered last in OK, and voted in the 2016 election, but have not been in OK for almost 2 years now. Maintain DL and vehicle due to cost, $29 a year versus about $350.

Ruff16965 (05bd62cee897) Yeah, I guess I'm not sure.  If you plan to vote where you are now for the next election, then register now there and contact those reps.  If you plan to vote in OK, then contact them.  They tend to be more responsive to voting constituents, for the obvious reasons.  Good luck!

Spring Green Rain Did the CA representative for the area. Don't plan on going back to OK, ex-girlfriend, am looking at a few other places and hope to move by the end of the year. Mainly in CA to regroup and take care and arrange somethings for my parents.

Ruff16965 (05bd62cee897) That could open another can of worms.  If you "reside" in OK but are just staying in CA to care for someone, you may still be a "resident" of OK.  Otherwise you are likely a "resident" of CA.  The Congressman who represents you is the one where you are a resident.  That's why it matters.  Where did you file income taxes?  Do you own a home in OK? Do you have a spouse living in OK?  (Domicile and Residence can be different.)  It's complicated and potentially expensive if you don't keep a low profile.

The issue becomes your car registration.  At least some states require you to register your car there shortly after you become a "resident".  If you wait too long, you could be subject to hefty penalties and back taxes.  (The expensive part of the CA registration is likely the Vehicle License Fee which is essentially a property tax based on value of the vehicle.) 

Here are a couple of links worth looking at:

https://www.palmspringstaxandtrustlawyers.com/g-guidelines-for-determining-residency/

https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/vr/vr_info#origpenalty

I am not a lawyer and the above info is NOT legal advise.  Please do your own research.

MartyH No home, no spouse. Not on any lease at all. Thank you for the links I will check them out.

Spring Green Rain So about a week ago got an form letter from the congressman, thought ok. Basically had sent and inquiry to Medicare to look into and expedite the matter. So a few minutes ago sit at the desk and notice my cellphone is flashing. A supervisor from Medicare called, left a message. The facts she gave me a totally wrong so I will call her Monday morning, but I am hopeful that things might finally be settled. 

Ruff16965 (05bd62cee897) Fingers crossed!

Spring Green Rain  After several days of playing phone tag and message tag, we went to e-mails. I am in possession of email that states that is is covered and that the contractor is working on processing the payment and that "Timely Filing" is waived as the mistake was all on Social Security's side. 

Almost ended up with Medicare Part B reinstated with no premiums back to April of 2017, but when Social Security heard my story and saw the records I had all of a sudden I could have it but would have to pay all back premiums, so basically pay again for their mistakes. Makes me wonder how I would get an audit of my benefits to make sure that I am being paid the right amount. This mess all started when I went back to work in a trial period, made too much but had stopped working and moved they cut off benefits I appealed and won, then 6 months later they reopened appeal and then after 18 months claimed that I was overpaid when they reinstated my benefits. All based off paperwork I provided to them in the original appeal.

Ruff16965 (05bd62cee897) That is good to hear!  Hope it is paid soon.

Spring Green Rain Your lips to God's ears, however the lady handling this is great. She has gone above and beyond. The latest e-mail from her. "SSA told me today that they are completely and equitably relieving you of any 20% Part B Late Enrollment Penalty surcharge and your monthly Part B premium will be  $135.50 which is the base monthly rate for Part B in 2019….    The Part B start date remains as you requested to begin on 7/1/2019." So that will add up in the long run.

Besides thanking her several times, I am writing to the congressman that help get the ball rolling thanking him and mentioning how great she has been. I used to work customer care and things like that usually end up going in your record and the ex-wife used to work for the federal government and got bonus for work above and beyond.

Ruff16965 (05bd62cee897) 

Good of you to 'pay it forward' so to speak.  I like to call or write sometimes to recognize effort because most of the time people only do so to complain.  It's usually a pleasant surprise to get positive feedback.  

Spring Green Rain  Well the Congressman was the way to go, their 4-6 week estimate to pay it. Less than 2 weeks, plus they went back and picked up the one that the people never billed for. So all my old medical from Oklahoma City is taken care off.  Thank you again for the advice. 

I have $76 from Florida that I will clear next month. 

Ruff16965 (05bd62cee897) That's great to hear. I'm so glad it all got taken care of. I bet it's a big relief!

Black Orchid Progress is still progress. Most importantly, I hope you're feeling well and healthy 

Kim Laskey Kicking arse and taking names - love it!

Skeettafic  - there are days where  you definitely feel it. I'm the same. I've been looking at my timelines and just trying to make it come to fruition. Congrats on knocking out your Kohl's card, that's a great win and you should revel in the success of that. Also, good to have vacation on the horizon so that you have something to look forward to again. Take it one payment at a time, you've got this.

Skeettafic I second the sentiments from Tishy Wishy. There are times this is so much harder. I hope you can take a pause to see how far you've come (no more Kohl's card, meaning no 27% ridiculous interest!). I know I didn't get into debt overnight, so I've had to accept that it won't go away overnight, either.  And no matter what, keeping at it means you are better off today than you were yesterday.  You've got this!

Thanks to both of you.  I’m usually okay at just plugging along but at times it all seems to be too much and I just ruminate on it.  Feeling good about it now.  It’s going to be a huge win when the car is paid off. That’s going to free up so much extra!  I’m tempted to take a couple of months and use the full amount to really beef up some sinking funds before rolling any into the snowball - the vet and medical category have both been pretty heavily utilized so far in 2019 so getting a few extra hundred in each of those categories would be great. 

Skeettafic Getting the car paid off will be a huge boost.  You will own it!  Then when you get the title in the mail with no lien on it, you'll feel that boost again. 

There is just something special about actually owning that big expensive thing you drive every day.  It's a great feeling.  Way better than paying off a Kohl's card.  🙂

MartyH  Thanks.  Yeah, we can't wait!  It's been super tempting to take the money from our savings and just pay it off but it's just too big a gamble to take that much from our emergency fund.  We are down to a couple of months so it's just a matter of a very short period of time.  It will be June at the latest.  May if I can squeeze the rest of March and April really tight!

Pay Me To Draw That's a lot of good news!!!
Good luck with the insurance situation, those can be really challenging to deal with. It's such a relief to know that you HAVE the funds available to deal with whatever happens though! Way to go!

Gold Song  I think that makes sense as long as you set up an amount each month in your budget to have cash for Christmas.  I'd rather save up over time than sit on $1,000 when it could do more good paying off debt that I'm paying interest on!

Sea Green Lightning Welcome! I love an ambitious goal! Keep us posted on your progress :)

Taylor L 

Taylor L said:
I'm really happy with the balance we've struck between paying off debt and having fun.

 I'm so glad you've found this balance! Congratulations on a great month!

Congratulations!! Gold Panther  

That is exciting and motivating! Thanks 

Gold Panther Congratulations! Freedom from debt is a huge accomplishment.

Gold Panther Congratulations! 

Gold Panther That's awesome!!! Congrats!

Congratulations Gold Panther ! 🎉 That is amazing accomplishment. How did making those last payments feel!?

Gold Panther 

Woohoo!  Go you.  Come join the savings challenge. We could use some excitement in that thread.

Gold Panther Woohooo! Congratulations! 

Go create that Savings plan in the Savings challenge! Love these wins!

Veronica at YNAB I just did! I'm so pumped!

HappyDance Thanks for telling me, I didn't know about that thread! Just made my goal over there.  :D 

Nicole it was a little humdrum, like "yep we pay these every month." It was looking at April's budget and hiding those debt line items in YNAB that finally clicked in for me and I feel free as a bird.

Debt Defeater take your time learning YNAB. I found it takes a good 3 months, if not 6 months to really get the hang of not just the program, but the amount of money that I need for any given category (like gas and groceries, etc). There's a learning curve, and an adaptation time, so be gentle with yourself, and have fun!

Getting started is the most important step!

Maroon Viper 

What fantastic progress.  Go you!

SiruhTheSantas That zero interest transfer is HUGE!! I LOVE being able to take advantage of those! Way to go for scoring that, I know that will be a big help!

Quinn That's such a good feeling!! Way to go!

Debt Crusher Cat Mother Five paychecks?! That is so close! Being able to deal with a True Expense like an expensive car repair, and nearly reach that goal is nothing to sneeze at.

Nicole yes, absolutely! I'm proud of my progress but I get SO impatient! Lol