FSA Account Hell

I’m going to rail on something that will make me look 80 years old, crazy, or both.  But here goes...  This is what my life has been reduced to.

Employer offers benefit of a Healthcare FSA account. These are those deals where you pay regularly in to an account, every pay period during the year, up to an amount of your choosing, and they hold this amount out of your “taxable earnings”. It’s earmarked for healthcare use only.

Well, our family has unfortunately been part of the medical equivalent of a “Frequent Customer Club” the last couple years, so we decided to use one of these to get essentially that dubious benefit of less taxation back to our pockets.

Here’s how our experience progressed:

2009 - July 2012 : Yay! We love our FSA account

July 2012 - present: WTF were we thinking?

There apparently was a $0.44 charge -- yes, forty-four cents -- that a doctor’s office found from 2011 and tacked onto a bill I paid this year, unbeknownst to me. Shock-a-roo, it was not covered in the 2012 plan once the FSA administrators identified it.

I have been trying to clear this damn $0.44 charge for about a month now, between calling/recalling the medical center, getting new itemized receipts, submitting them, talking to customer service.

“I just want to pay you back the $0.44.” I begged the reps. 

“Sorry, ma’am, we can’t accept a payment of that size.” the rep responded.

“But this could cause my FSA debit card to freeze up, right?” I queried.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“…”

“Can you ask the healthcare provider for ANOTHER receipt?” rep asks helpfully.

I am in purgatory. I’m certain of it.

Resubmitted the same (but new! version) of the receipt as commanded. Rejected 3 days later. As expected.

Called back AGAIN today, and now I’m suggested to buy a random thing with cash for at least a dollar, that is covered by FSA… but doesn’t require an Rx (Thanks for that little adjustment to the FSA plans in the Healthcare Bill!  Sooooo helpful!)… “… Hmm, but getting an Rx for over the counter items would likely cause you to incur other expense from the doctor…” rep said.  (Yes, I know.)

Band-Aids.

The latest rep throws out this suggestion as an afterthought.  Apparently this is covered, and is one of the few remaining items that doesn’t require an Rx.

So at lunchtime, I am going to get some friggin Band-Aids! 

I don't care WTF character is on them, a box of these is coming with me today.

Thanks Free Speech Idiots: NYC Subways Likely Targets Once More

Oh, Good.

When the right to free speech results in almost certain harm to "innocent bystanders", it crosses the line for me.

Per CNN article posted September 19, 2012 :

A controversial advertisement that critics say is hateful toward Muslims will appear in New York City subway stations starting next week, despite the city's attempts to halt the campaign...

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority initially rejected the ad, which reads: "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad."

Yeah, I get it, you should IN PRINCIPLE be allowed to participate in your right to free speech, HERE, in AMERICA.

However, [insert God] help us, we are not dealing with philosophicals right now. The group being targeted here is proven to respond again and again, in a tangible violent fashion, against any negative commentary whatsoever. OK, let me give the obligatory nod to "It is only a select *minority* group that does this, not the majority of peace-loving Muslims." There, done.

It's like poking a snarling dog anyway with your finger and being shocked when you get bitten.

Free Speech Activists: How many innocent bystanders need to die / be maimed in the predictable attempts to blow up the NYC subway that likely are forthcoming? If one of your family is among them, I hope it was worth it.

Otherwise, leave it be.  Leave Islam alone as a target.

To quote CNN's article again here,

"We don't think it's controversial," said Pamela Geller, the executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative. "It's truth. The MTA has run anti-Israel ads before and no one had an issue about it. 'Any war on innocent civilians is savagery': What's controversial here?"

 Feel good with that self-righteousness when you're comforting the relatives of the victims from the retaliation. 

Academia: I thought you were preparing us for the "real world"?

Wow, does this one rub me the wrong way. 

So here's the short of it: A valedictorian uses the word "hell" in her speech in Oklahoma. Speaking about how she's been asked often what her future plans are, she quipped, "How the hell do I know? I've changed my mind so many times." This was met with a laugh by the graduation class and other attendees. A week later, at the school, she is denied collection of her diploma by the principal, who demands a written apology to himself and staff before releasing it.

Here are a few news-y bits on it:

• http://abcnews.go.com/US/oklahoma-valedictorian-denied-diploma-hell-speech/story?id=17042883#.UDYfnqCJv8s
• http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/valedictorian-denied-diploma-hell-apology-141901681.html
• http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/high-school-valedictorian-denied-diploma-a-hell-a-graduation-speech-article-1.1140170

Again, wow.

So a girl who performs the best in her class academically is denied her hard-earned diploma because she used a word that many of the population would consider mild, and with the given context, very inoffensive?