Insurance woes

This is a long one, but I felt I should tell you as I didn't want you to think it was all sunshine and butterflies when you move back to the US. 

This is me getting health insurance in Ireland:

Ring Ring....
Me: Hi, I'd like to get health insurance. I've looked online at your different plans and this is the plan I would like to get.
Them: Grand sure! We can have it start immediately. The cost is 75 euro per month. We'll send out all your policy info.
Me: Great! Have a nice day!
Click

The process of getting insurance in the US totally sucks.

We don't have jobs, so we have to apply for health insurance on our own. I tried one of the larger companies here in Maryland, but was denied because of my BMI. I wonder if you would be denied if your BMI was too low. Hmmm.... Anyway, they suggested I apply for this federal high risk pool since I was denied for medical reasons. Ironically, the coverage managed by this same large MD company and is actually better and cheaper than what I was denied. One stipulation is that you can not have had insurance in the past 6 months. I called the help line and they very friendly man (seriously friendly) reassured me that all they care about is US healthcare. Off goes the application (with an explanation of my Irish healthcare) and I get a letter last week that the reason I was denied was because I had healthcare in the past 6 months. So I call AGAIN and they assure me that it's only US healthcare that counts. I explain my situation and she asks if I could fax that explanation to them. I could start a whole separate rant about how the US is the only country in the world that still uses fax machines, but I'll spare you. I asked if I could email it. No. So now I have to be inconvenienced to hunt down a freaking fax machine to tell them something that was already written on my original application. Not to mention our brand new printer is a piece of junk, so I'll have to hand write it. I'm pretty excited about this situation.

On to the homeowners insurance....

I never got homeowners in Ireland, but I'm fairly certain it would gone pretty much the same as the health insurance.

Prior to moving to the UK I used a large insurance company that starts with an 'A' and ends with 'state'. I was really happy with them. Unfortunately, they didn't provide insurance for rental properties, so I had to switch to another company. The coverage wasn't as good and the price was the same, but it was fine for a rental. After we moved back into the house I contact my previous company as I was anxious to get more decent coverage on the house again. The woman that I dealt with was an absolute star. Everything was done over email (she didn't ask me to fax anything), it was totally easy peasy. One day a guy comes by and says he wants to take pictures of the house for our application. Great! Nothing has changed on the exterior since the last time I was covered, so no problem. About a week after that we get a very nasty letter from the risk department telling us that they're cancelling our policy based on our dishonesty with the condition of the house. They never would have covered us if they knew we were such high risk.

They cancelled us because of this:

This is a soffit on the back of the house. Apparently it could fall off and injure someone. Okay, fair enough.

And this:

What is it, you ask? See how the front stoop only has one railing on it? Yeah. That's why.

This is the one that really ticked me off.

There was no mention in the letter that we had the chance to fix things before they decided to cancel us. So, I emailed my contact person and she said that we do have the chance to fix things, and she agreed the soffit in the back was a bit ridiculous (I had said that it's about $20 to fix it), but that they couldn't be lenient on the railing thing. You may notice in the above picture that my neighbor only has one (not pictured) railing. My neighbor on the other side - one railing. Every house on my block - one railing. 90% of houses in Baltimore city - one railing (I know this because I can't stop looking at railings now). I was furious. How do they get any new business in the city?? Yes, I asked her that and she didn't answer me. The cancellation letter only suggested we trying getting insurance from the company I used when the house was a rental. This is the company that people use when they don't qualify with anyone else, so you can imagine what their rates would be for a comparable policy to the one getting cancelled. Um, no. People in this town are getting their one-railing houses insured by someone and I'm going to find them. What do I do? I go to their major competitor, State F-. I was terrified that we were going to be penalized since the other company was cancelling us, but they put my fears to rest on that. They were sending someone out to take pictures for our application, so Wes had his first DIY project:

(His second one should probably be cleaning the siding!Yikes!)

As I predicted the total project was about $13 and we're the proud new owners of some tin snips! I've been reassured that the railing isn't a problem and he said, that's why you pay for insurance, right? RIGHT!!! And my favorite part was that they gave us a reusable bag for the grocery store and this: 

You had me at chocolate fudge brownies....

Seriously though, I actually lost sleep over this situation and more worryingly, I probably sprouted a few new gray hairs. Why? Because that letter from their risk department made it sound like I was this horrible, deceptive person. Everything was fine in 2006, how did I know this now was grounds for cancellation?? Why would I think the stoop would be a problem when that's how the entire city has been designed? My stoop has been like that since at least the 1950s! My parents have faithfully used this company for many years and I was their customer for over 10 (started with auto and then homeowners). Is there no customer loyalty??

Bottom line is they wronged me and if anyone asks me for a suggestion for insurance I will definitely point them in a different direction. I don't feel totally okay about calling them out on this blog, but if you can't work out the company from my very non-cryptic clues, then send me an email and I'll be happy to tell you who it is.

Once I find that stupid fax machine, this should hopefully be the end of our insurance woes for a little while. Thankfully I have a hair appointment on Thursday to cover up all my new gray hairs!

It's been a busy week!

It's another one of those weeks when lots is going on, but nothing seems worth writing about....you know, lunch with friends, kicking this chest cold, donating things to the charity shop, getting Wes' US visa, grocery shopping, vacuuming our previously soaking wet carpet....you know....WAIT! WHAT!? {insert sound of record scratching to a halt}

I KNOW!!! VACUUMING!!!

I kid, I kid....that's right...we're moving to the US and the government will now officially accept my husband! I would do a cartwheel, but there's not enough room in my apartment. All in all it took us just over five months to complete the process. Not bad at all, really. In fact, we could have done it quicker, but we drew out some of the bits of the process because we had an idea of our time frame for moving. Five months of paperwork, medical appointments, and payments all culminated in a 5 minute interview. When we walked up to the window, the guy greeted us by saying, 'Someone did their research. All of your documents are in order and everything is correct.' WELL, my chest puffed up and my husband said he thought I was going to start doing a jig around the office! Ha! I felt like the teacher just gave me an A++!*

So, expect this blog to take a turn to the stresses of an international move. I'm afraid that finding a decent and affordable shipping company is going to be harder than getting the visa!

I didn't want to take a picture of Wes' passport, so instead you get a picture of the mysterious brown envelope that everyone talks about on expat boards.

And no, we don't know when we're going. I keep telling people either when one of us gets a job or six months from now since that's the amount of time he has to activate the visa. Finger's crossed the job comes first!!! Thankfully, he can now tick the box on job applications that he's legal to work in the US!!!

*This is the clear behavior of someone who has been unemployed for two years. Wes wondered if the guy would write me a letter of recommendation.

Back in Dublin!

Nothing like walking into your apartment (that you already hate) after 4 weeks away to find water all over the floor. Now we just hate it more. At least the cat was happy to see us! If anyone needs a cat sitter in Dublin I'm happy to recommend Alice at Maow Care. She was great keeping us updated with texts and pictures and it really put our minds at ease.

We had a great time in the US! We ate before eating, then had some more to eat. Thumbs up that I only gained 5lbs. Wes gained 8 AND he ran every morning (even when it was 12 degrees F)! I'm the winner of the Lowest Gainer competition! Woohoo! Besides eating (or while eating) we managed to hang out with lots of friends and family. Unfortunately we didn't get to see everyone, which means I come back feeling guilty. I tried Zumba for the first time and had a blast. I wish classes here didn't cost 10 euro each. They were only $6 in the US. Oh, and we went to the pizza shop 5 times, Panera 4 times, Chik Fil-A 3 times, shopped at Target, drank Dunkin' Donuts coffee, used fat free hazelnut coffee creamer in the mornings, visited some museums in Washington, DC, drove what felt like a million miles, babysat our nephews, had a delicious steak dinner finished off with awesome cheesecake, went to a wedding in Pittsburgh, had my hair cut and colored, drove up and down I-83 like 10 times, and listened to NPR whenever we had the chance.

Basically we did all-American things. It was fabulous! Here are a few pictures:

Kim, Samantha, and Kennedy invited me down to make gingerbread houses with them. I've never done that before and we had a blast!

Here is our completed gingerbread village! I don't like to brag, but I made the bakery....

We had Christmas with my family. It looked a lot like this - manic.

We chased a bird out of Kim and Frankie's house. Here's a tip: when you live in the woods and you put a wreath on your front door, there's a good chance a bird will build a nest in it. Then, when you open the door for guests, it will fly right inside! Voila! Too bad they already had a Christmas tree topper...

 
We went to a wedding in Pittsburgh. It was at Heinz Memorial Chapel on the Pitt campus. Gorgeous!

This is the only picture of us at the wedding and I'm highly annoyed that it was fuzzy. It looked okay when he showed it to me...probably too many Yuenglings!

We celebrated my nephew's 10th birthday. Yeah, yeah, he's cute and all, but that buffalo chicken dip in the front of this picture was to die for!!!

And we got to visit with my Grandma a couple of times. Awesome!

Sorry for the lack of updates!

I'm in the US for a few weeks so that means a lot of jetlag, visiting, eating, and going to Target. Doesn't leave much time for the blog! If something interesting comes up, I'll let you know. In the meantime, ponder the deliciousness of Pretzel M&Ms.

No shoveling for me...

I can just enjoy the pretty pictures from Mom and Dad!

Everything is grand, sure.

I'm in the US dealing with my house and whatnot, but since I'm now married to an Irishman I have acquired the superstitions that come along with that and will not comment on this situation until I have arrived back in Dublin.

Other than that I have been whooping it up American-style: corn on the cob, swimming with friends, and camping with the family. Tonight I made some Noodle-Roni to have with my dinner, which I ate while reading People Magazine, and tomorrow I'll pour my lactose-free hazelnut creamer (it was cheaper than the regular) into my Chock Full O'Nuts coffee.

God bless America.