One of the problems we've had in sorting out last years expenses is sorting out my parents expenses, and estimating my mother's costs for the future,

Mom is 87. Her SSI is minimal, my Dad was a janitor, and she works hard to keep her costs down. She decided to find a cheaper health insurance plan last Spring. And, after almost 30 years being insured by Blue Cross, she changed to AARP.

Unfortunately, she didn't understand the fine print on the new insurance. My Dad died just over one month after she "made the switch". But, under the terms of the new policy, she had no major medical coverage for the first three months of the policy.

No coverage for the ambulance, or the ER, or the ICU where he stayed for almost one week. The hospital simply billed AARP. It was over a month before the bills trickled back to Mom as "denied". Then the trickle became a flood. And she didn't understand any of her paperwork, simply hid it away for the children to figure out later.

Sigh. Later was painful. Very painful.

AARP was of little help, as the terms of the policy were quite clear, at least to them.

Blue Cross terms were a bit fuzzier, and we weren't sure exactly when the "end date" of the policy was signed off on. When we called and explained the situation, very openly, they agreed that to extend the policy for the additional six weeks if the premium for that period was paid. We did, and we just received notice that they have paid the final bills.

Wow! My parents were with Blue Cross for over 30 years, and their premiums were fairly high. Still, a company that was will to extend a hand to a widow in a difficult situation gets a big thanks from me.