I want to apply for a senior's healthcare card. This allows for discounts not only on healthcare (😂) but also on council rates, car registration and other things I haven't looked into. It is means tested but I easily fit all the conditions, including the financial ones.
However, this will require that I communicate with Centrelink. Sigh!
But it should be possible to do it online. First, though, I need to link my Centrelink registration with my MyGov account.
Mysteriously, this proved to be impossible to do online.
More Sighs.
So on Monday I drove back out to the Centrelink office to get it linked by a Centrelink person.
By pure coincidence, I got the same person I had spoken to about Jim's issues the previous week.
She couldn't link my account. They still have me registered under my previous married name (which I haven't used since the mid-1980s!!!) and have me living at Ross' address. She couldn't change either of these things because the aged care financial assessment team has an "action" open on my account, tied to the action they have open on Jim's account. She was worried that if she overrode that, it might reset Jim's issue back to October or even July of last year. We definitely didn't want that to happen!
I really don't understand this. Medicare (which is linked with Centrelink), the electoral office, the passport office, the tax office, the health department, every other federal government department have my name and address right. So does the state government. All of my official forms of identification have my current name and address, so do the bank, the council office, everyone. There is nobody anywhere who thinks I live at Ross' address and use his surname. Nobody. Except Centrelink!!!
There are so, so many issues with this, not least of which is that they have told me (on several occasions now) where Ross lives. As it happens, I know where he lives, but not all divorced people know where their ex-spouse lives, and not every ex-spouse wants them to know.
After I left Centrelink I bought some chicken and chips and went and sat in the sunshine by the lake and had a brunch picnic. I felt I deserved it. I hadn't yelled at anyone, had remained calm and had only gently revealed my deep frustrations with all of this.
As far as I am aware, absolutely nothing has changed during the intervening week but I can't quite bring myself to ring anyone and ask. However, the accounts manager at the care home has parked the $30k arrears until it's all sorted out so at least they shouldn't try to take out ridiculous numbers of dollars for Jim's care fees. I will be very pleased when that particular problem gets driven away. Then I can give proper attention to other things that need sorting out/organising. Such as a new passport so I can go overseas, should the opportunity arise. (I do have a valid passport but it only has another 6 months validity and that will disappear very quickly if the second half of the year is as hasty as the first)
In other news, the new heat pump hot water service has arrived. Two blokes turned up yesterday morning at about 7:30. The hot water service was installed and up and running, and they were gone, by 9:30. Not bad going. I have enquired about getting the gas to the house disconnected. This can be done, but if I just stop the supply and leave the meter in place, I will still have to pay the monthly connection fee, which is about $40. If I have the meter removed and the supply of gas permanently disconnected it will cost a little under $1000. The only thing I still have that uses gas is the ducted heating but I don't yet have the reverse cycle heating unit that I am intending to replace it with. If I have the meter removed, that's most of the money towards the reverse cycle unit gone. If I am going to keep the meter, then I might as well keep the gas supply.
I'm not sure what to do. I shall ponder. There's no hurry.
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| It looks very smart and produces hot water at good pressure |
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