Just when you think you have everything taken care of, you find you really don’t. As I mentioned in a previous post, insurance was one of my biggest pains upon retirement. I decided to go with my TRS (Teacher Retirement System) Medicare Advantage plan (TRS Advantage). In order to make that happen, I had to complete the TRS Advantage enrollment paperwork and sign up for Medicare Part B. I was able to do the Medicare Part B sign up online and received the TRS Advantage enrollment paperwork in the mail. I completed that (I thought) and mailed it in. Signing up online was not an option. I had everything set to start September 1, 2024 as that was when my group insurance plan would expire. All this done less than two weeks before we took off to Panama, our first retirement destination. Our second week in Panama I received an email from TRS Advantage saying I had failed to sign one of the sections of the 10 page form. The problem was that the form was not available online, and though they sent me a copy of the page, it was in pdf format, and I had no way to edit it for signature nor did I have access to a printer. I called TRS Advantage and they were absolutely no help, but Mike to the rescue. He pulled it up on his computer and managed to make it editable (is that a word?) with an electronic signature. I sent it electronically with fingers crossed they would accept an electronic signature. I received an email verification of receipt, and waited a couple of weeks to check online to see if I do indeed have insurance set up to start on September 1. The Medicare site shows that I am indeed set up for things to kick in at that time, even though I haven’t figured out how to find the info on the TRS website yet. I will trust the Federal Government on this one, crazy me.
Hiccup number 2, we were affected by a tornado in our area the last day of the school year and were without electricity for almost a week, had major hail damage to the cars and house, lost multiple tree limbs and trees behind our house, and had a neighbor’s tree fall on our house (thankfully with minimum damage). My mother’s car has been at my house since she had moved into assisted living, and though she passed away in October, I had never done anything to change the title to one of our names. That car sustained over $3,000 in damage and we received a check from insurance to cover it. However, because the car isn’t in my name, they made the check to “the estate of Mattie Wesson.” Since her “estate” is essential my brother and myself, I was hoping the both of us endorsing the check would work to get the money. However, that was not sufficient and we did not have time to get that situation resolved before we left on our extended trip, so that will need to be taken care of as soon as we get back. Lesson learned…don’t put things off because you don’t think it will be an issue (getting titles changed).
Hiccup number 3, also tornado/hail related. Our roof will need to be replaced due to hail damage and tree falling. With all the damage in the area, we did not want to rush to try to get everything done before leaving, so we put the roof on the back burner until we return in November. Not necessarily a problem, but just another thing to add to the list of things we will have to take care of in the time we are at home before returning back to Panama for awhile. I figure if these are the the worst things we have to deal with, we are truly lucky folks.