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I could just cry. My mother, the most thorough person I know, has been working for 6 months to switch her health insurance from HMO to POS so she could choose the doctor to do her knee replacement surgery. She needs this surgery so badly. Her knee is bone on bone and every doctor she's seen says they don't know how she stands it. She was all geared up to get the surgery in the new year and tonight realized there was one form she needed to send in by 12/15 that nobody told her about it. She's called Medicare and her insurance about 50 times in the past 6 months about what needs to happen at every step of this process and now it looks like a form sent in for my dad (because the POS is from his retirement insurance) should have also been completed for her but was never sent.

I'm not only upset for Mom, I'm upset for all of the seniors out there who get screwed over because no matter how thoughtful and careful they are they can slip up and not get the coverage they've told everybody they want. How would some poor, ill, 85 year-old handle all of this? My mom is a young, vibrant woman who happens to be "of age". If she gets tripped up, none of us stand a chance!

She's already resigned to the idea that she'll have to wait another year. I can't stand the thought of her waiting another year. I can't believe this is happening!

I could just cry. I'm so upset for her. This surgery would help her feel so much better. My parents are retired and should be traveling and enjoying life. They take many short trips up the coast but each trip gets more and more difficult for my mom. It's gotten hard for her to get around.

I hate this!!! I hate our insurance system. My mom is truly the best mom in the world. She deserves so much better than all of this. Both of my parents deserve better. Honest to God, if I could have chosen my parents, out of every set out there, I would have chosen mine. I can't believe they are being put through this bullshit.

We're one of the richest nations out there, when a person needs a new knee they should be able to get a new knee by which ever doctor they feel most comfortable with. Instead, my mom is expected to get a new knee from a doctor she can barely understand. The same doctor with a front office whose English is SO BAD previous miscommunications have fucked up some important paperwork and delayed a pain relief treatment for her for over a month. This is such bullshit!!!