robotech_master

How the job is going so far

Tue, 27 Jun 2017 00:28:17 GMT

Well, work training proceeds apace.

My job is going to be a Utilization Management representative. That means I handle precertifications (the mandatory cases where a particular course of treatment has to be approved by the insurance company prior to it being covered) and predeterminations (the optional-but-recommended cases where the treatment can be submitted for approval ahead of time, or can be submitted at the time the claim is turned in instead).

( What that means. )

Meanwhile, after work today I stopped and checked into the little mini-clinic built right into the building where I work. Needless to say, they'll accept my job-given insurance, which will be active as of July 1. I checked with my regular doctor and found that she can't see me until July 14th—but there's a regular doctor at the clinic at work, and they're open to seeing me sooner, and might even end up becoming my primary care physician. And they're certainly a lot closer than my regular doctor, so there's the convenience thing too. I've already put in a request to the office of my old regular doctor to fax my medical records over.

A couple of nice things about said clinic: first off, if I get prescribed medicines by the doctor there, and pick them up at that clinic, they're effectively free. And second, they have one of those home sleep study gizmos they can send home with me—a machine I hook up and sleep with for three nights, that will transmit information about my sleeping habits back to home base for analysis so I might well end up able to get a CPAP. I already have plenty of friends and brothers who use such things. If they make such a difference for them, maybe they can help me too.

In any event, I'm doing the best I can to make the best of things and get good at my new job. I hope I don't screw it up too badly in days to come. Whatever happens, I'm probably going to be doing it for about 11 more months before I can apply for other internal Anthem postings. Hopefully it will get less stressful once I understand it better.

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Employee with benefits

Thu, 25 May 2017 23:07:43 GMT

The job training proceeds apace. We're learning a number of useful things, still out of context, but at least we're starting to get some vague ideas about how they'll come together. I got to work with one of the systems I'd used in one of my previous temp job sessions, and was happy to find I still remembered a number of useful details about how it worked that helped me even though I was using a different part of it than I had in the old job.

Investigated the benefits I'm going to get at the start of the month after I've been there 30 days—as of July 1. Some fairly decent health plans, and less expensive to me than the ACA plan I'm currently on. There's even a Flex account that I can put some money into and Anthem will, too. The problem is knowing how much to put in, especially since it's going to be pro-rated for the half a year since my coverage starts. I'm hoping to get a sleep study done, which might lead to a CPAP machine, which I'll be on the hook for up to the deductible, so putting some tax-free money aside might be useful—but I don't know how much the machine would be, or even if/when I can actually schedule the appointments and sleep study and stuff. It'll be a lot easier to do that sort of stuff once I'm on the 11 to 8 shift, since I'll have those three morning hours in which I can schedule them—but by that time I'll be well past the end of my open enrollment period when I can decide how much to put in. Sigh.

There's going to be a 401K, too. If I contribute 5% of my salary, I can max out Anthem's contribution matching at 4%. It's kind of late in my life to get started saving for retirement, but something is better than nothing no matter when you start I guess. And I think I put something into a 401K at one of my previous full-time employers-with-benefits—Mihlfeld or TeleTech—and I've been trying to get in touch with them to investigate that because I can apparently roll them over into Anthem's 401K if I did. But the Mihlfeld benefits person was out of the office today, and the TeleTech person is overseas and apparently nearly impossible to contact. Meh. Will keep trying.

Here's another fun benefit: for the first time in I don't know how long, I'll get a day off on Monday as a paid holiday, thanks to my full-time associate status. For those holidays that fall after my training is over, I can even choose to work the day at a greater-than-usual holiday pay rate, which will be a nice bonus.

At any rate, after this first week of training, I'm really looking forward to that 3-day weekend!

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Day 2, and schedule details.

Tue, 23 May 2017 21:50:51 GMT

( This is how my first couple of days went. )

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New job's eve jitters

Sun, 21 May 2017 17:55:18 GMT

So, here I am. Day before I begin my new job at my old workplace. ( Jitters and stuff. )

Anyway, that's all from here. Starting tomorrow, "They call me the working man / I guess that's what I am."

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