Boomer acts like her Hospital Copays are my fault
I work at a agency which assists elderly and disabled people with various needs. We set them up with various programs and equipment and send them on their way. No long-term care or housing is provided. We also are not affiliated with Federal state or local governments, but can link to resources these entities provide. We also don't write health insurance or life insurance plans. Again linking can be done as a service, though. All free, by the way.
With that out of the way, I was sitting at the front desk in the lobby, essentially functioning as a secretary. This older lady walks in, already a pissy look on her face and with her 50+ year old daughter in tow. I ask her how I can help her and she just stares at me blankly, as though I should know who she is and what she needs. I ask if she has an appointment, again an annoyed stare, but she was able to use her words this time and said she didn't. Okay, we're in 20 questions territory now. I ask if she wants to rent equipment i.e. the walkers and shower chairs we provide. This time she scoffs and says she is looking for help with her health insurance. Obviously someone her age probably has Medicare, which they love to complain about, but you never know. Some retirees can draw health insurance via their spouse's union for example. She rolls her eyes, but I get the first straight answer from her. Hallelujah, holy shit, she's able to tell me what advantage plan she has. Great, that I can look up. I ask what she wants to know about it. She asks me what happens to her when she goes to the hospital. Uh okay vague, I don't like where this is going, as it just sounds like a bitch session. I ask if she has ever used our agency before, to switch gears. She says she hasn't, and a search in our database confirms this. I look up her plan while she stands there impatiently, as though I should already have this information on hand. I have a lot of familiarity with Medicare and Advantage plans, but she doesn't know this, since we just met 2 looong minutes ago. I pull up the information and mention again she was looking for information about the hospital. I tell her the copays, which like most health insurance plans these days, are fucking high. Like, okay, it's shitty to make someone on a fixed income pay as much as they ask nowadays, but I am not the decider of these things. I sympathize, but all I can do is provide information. She asks how Medicare will pay that. I explain that the amount I just gave her is the copay. She rolls her eyes again and says she knows this, and asks again how Medicare is going to pay her copay. I explain that the amount is what *she* pays after her Advantage plan pays their portion. She looks at me like I'm crazy and I just asked her to shell out that amount of money to me personally. She says she can't pay that. I ask if she has Medicaid, which will pick up the cost after her advantage plan pays. I kid you not, she takes this know-it-all "oh finally you get it!" tone and says "well that's why I'm here." Lady, you could have walked in and instead of playing twenty questions just told me this. Instead you wasted everyone's time playing games. You obviously know what Medicaid is. Why are they like this?
Anyway, I got my coworker who does the Medicaid apps who was busy at the time. She got mad she had to wait, as though you can always just walk into any underfunded, understaffed non-profit in the year 2026 and get instant service. I don't hate my job, but I do find this type of person insufferable. Anyway, not the most amazing story and I do realize it's very long so:
TL;DR boomer lady walks in my job like she's the main character, acts like I can read minds, plays 20 questions with me before revealing what she really needs.
Edited: Clarity