Wading into a Bureaucracy

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My mother-in-law received two new I.D. cards (with different numbers) from BC/BS, which I figured was something that needs investigation. I'd also received a form to fill out that made no sense to me. And in addition, about a month ago her mail from them had started going to the nursing home rather than to me. Bright and early this morning I thought, "I'll kill three birds with one stone."
Ha.
Ha Ha.
Step 1: Go to the website. It has my address for mailings. Hmm.
Step 2: Call BC/BS Got a very nice lady who said she has my address for mailings. After some back and forth, she told me I needed to call Blue Care Network, which isn't the same as BC/BS.
Step 3: Call BC Network. Got another nice lady who was able to correct the mailing problem but had no idea why MiL got two ID cards (plus the new one BC/BS had sent). She said I had to talk to Blue Care Advantage.
Step 4: Call BC Advantage. Got a woman who re-checked the address for mailings, so we're pretty sure I'll get them. Then she confessed to being unable to figure out why we got two cards from BCA. She will call me back when she finds out the answer.

Total time: 45 minutes, which I understand is not too bad for these things, except only ONE of my three concerns is (presumably) solved. One is pending, and the other we didn't even get to because we don't know which customer number is correct.

I will admit that these people were more helpful and responded more quickly than back in the '90s when my mom was sick. But 3 departments just to find one little old lady in one insurance company? She also has Medicare, Medicaid, and a different insurer for her prescriptions. I imagine her care records as one big snarl: the nursing home, the insurance companies, the Hospice people, and the prescriptions, and I'm willing to bet no one knows for sure who's getting paid what.

I guess it helps that the 3 people I spoke with were all very nice. When dealing with a bureaucracy, that's about all one can hope for.

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