A weekend of work
I had a very busy weekend. And not just because of the things that we as a family did that Elf blogged about. I'm talking about things that I did myself.
See, I work a job during the day. Strike that...I work three jobs during the day. I have three different focuses for my company, and it ends up being three different jobs. The fact that I'm not insane right now actually surprises me. Or maybe I am insane, and I just don't know it yet.
Anyway, I really was getting behind in some things (primarily because I took off both Thanksgiving and the most important holiday of the year...Black Friday), and I resolved to make up for it by working this weekend. I had two games I had to review, a podcast to get out the door, and a designer to try and contact (I succeeded).
I also had a whole bunch of medical stuff to deal with. You can't imagine the miasma of dealing with the modern American health industry (well, maybe you can). See, I'm not the kind of person who's content to let the insurance industry just rip me off. I demand satisfaction. And if I can't get it at the point of a sword, I'll damn well get it by maneuvering through their bureaucratic mazes.
We have a health plan this year, complements of the cheap company that Elf works for, that is the worst health plan that I have ever encountered. Basically, they pay for the first $1000 of your medical expenses. Then, you pay for the next $1000 (or $2000 if it's an out of network provider). Then they will pay for everything after that that is covered at the agreed rate. That's a lot of money to pay. This, after raising the amount of money that Elf has to pay for insurance in the first place.
We also have a MSA, which allows you to put a certain amount of money from each paycheck into a trust. Then, when you have medical expenses, you can get reimbursement through that trust by simply sending in the proof of the bill (such as an EOB from the insurance company). The benefit is that all of the money that is taken out of your paycheck is taken pre-tax. Because you go this route, guaranteeing that you are using the money to pay for qualified medical expenses, you never pay taxes on the money that you eventually get back. So you can end up being taxed at a lower rate. The MSA company, however, gets to keep whatever you don't use, and probably believes that a lot of people don't use up all of what they set aside. That has *never* happened with us. We drain it, usually a month or two before the deadline.
Lastly, Yamaarashi-chan's counselor is an out-of-network provider, and doesn't bill the insurance company directly. So we have to pay her, and then send in the paperwork to get our reimbursement. This used to be an utter nightmare because we had two different insurance companies to deal with...Elf's and Yamaarashi-chan's mother's. But since the beginning of the year, the only benefit to the new plan that Elf has is that it is now the same company as Angi's. Which means that not only does the reimbursement go much quicker, but we also don't have to send in a second set of paperwork once the first plan has made it's decisions.
Now, I say "we" up above, but really I should be saying "me". Elf could never do all of this stuff. As I said, it is a nightmarish maze, and you have to really be committed to getting through the maze, and have the patience to deal with the idiots that you encounter at various points. And know when to drop the patience and put the screws to their heads. Which I do very effectively.
Anyway, I spent today attending to all of the medical stuff as well, and now we should be getting a substantial amount back from our MSA and the reimbursement for Yamaarashi-chan's counseling expenses. I feel pretty good about everything I did. Now I'm going to write. :)
See, I work a job during the day. Strike that...I work three jobs during the day. I have three different focuses for my company, and it ends up being three different jobs. The fact that I'm not insane right now actually surprises me. Or maybe I am insane, and I just don't know it yet.
Anyway, I really was getting behind in some things (primarily because I took off both Thanksgiving and the most important holiday of the year...Black Friday), and I resolved to make up for it by working this weekend. I had two games I had to review, a podcast to get out the door, and a designer to try and contact (I succeeded).
I also had a whole bunch of medical stuff to deal with. You can't imagine the miasma of dealing with the modern American health industry (well, maybe you can). See, I'm not the kind of person who's content to let the insurance industry just rip me off. I demand satisfaction. And if I can't get it at the point of a sword, I'll damn well get it by maneuvering through their bureaucratic mazes.
We have a health plan this year, complements of the cheap company that Elf works for, that is the worst health plan that I have ever encountered. Basically, they pay for the first $1000 of your medical expenses. Then, you pay for the next $1000 (or $2000 if it's an out of network provider). Then they will pay for everything after that that is covered at the agreed rate. That's a lot of money to pay. This, after raising the amount of money that Elf has to pay for insurance in the first place.
We also have a MSA, which allows you to put a certain amount of money from each paycheck into a trust. Then, when you have medical expenses, you can get reimbursement through that trust by simply sending in the proof of the bill (such as an EOB from the insurance company). The benefit is that all of the money that is taken out of your paycheck is taken pre-tax. Because you go this route, guaranteeing that you are using the money to pay for qualified medical expenses, you never pay taxes on the money that you eventually get back. So you can end up being taxed at a lower rate. The MSA company, however, gets to keep whatever you don't use, and probably believes that a lot of people don't use up all of what they set aside. That has *never* happened with us. We drain it, usually a month or two before the deadline.
Lastly, Yamaarashi-chan's counselor is an out-of-network provider, and doesn't bill the insurance company directly. So we have to pay her, and then send in the paperwork to get our reimbursement. This used to be an utter nightmare because we had two different insurance companies to deal with...Elf's and Yamaarashi-chan's mother's. But since the beginning of the year, the only benefit to the new plan that Elf has is that it is now the same company as Angi's. Which means that not only does the reimbursement go much quicker, but we also don't have to send in a second set of paperwork once the first plan has made it's decisions.
Now, I say "we" up above, but really I should be saying "me". Elf could never do all of this stuff. As I said, it is a nightmarish maze, and you have to really be committed to getting through the maze, and have the patience to deal with the idiots that you encounter at various points. And know when to drop the patience and put the screws to their heads. Which I do very effectively.
Anyway, I spent today attending to all of the medical stuff as well, and now we should be getting a substantial amount back from our MSA and the reimbursement for Yamaarashi-chan's counseling expenses. I feel pretty good about everything I did. Now I'm going to write. :)