I don’t do anything willynilly (or at least most times I don’t); I prefer to be somewhat prepared – although I know anything can happen at any time. There is always method to my madness. In my last post, I talked about my vacationing, this time it’s about therapy.
as you know I’ve been going to Shepherd for therapy for a number of years. I don’t remember what my process was the first couple years but now I know that I’ll stay on the waiting list for about 2 months before they call me for my first appointment. It’s also no secret that I hibernate during winter cuz I absolutely hate being cold, so why in hell would I coordinate to go therapy anywhere between November and March? So my process is that I call and ask my doctor to write the script and start the ball rolling around the end of February. That would usually put my first appointment in May and I would be wrapped up by July (give or take a month or two)…but of course, that’s MY plan. I believe last year I had to wait bout 4 months to get the call. I actually remember calling shepherd to make sure that Gilbert et al had done as I requested and sent over the order. It was taking so long that I just knew that they forgot me. By the time I was done with therapy, there was almost no time for them to submit insurance claims. Insurance – that’s the other reason that I do what I do (as far as timing); I like to make sure that they have time within the same year to submit claims to the insurance company. As you can probably guess, the shit eh cheap and so every year, I max out my contribution to my Flexible Spending Account (FSA) so that I can pay for therapy without touching the money in my checking account.
let me explain. Every year in October, I can allocate up to 2600 of my paycheck to go into an FSA account that can only be used to pay for specific medical expenses as defined by Uncle Sam during the following year. Unfortunately one has to estimate the expenses for the upcoming calendar year to determine how much to put in. I love having it cuz I don’t have to use “my money” to pay for doctor visits, pills and other stuff but it kinda sucks because even though it’s my own money put into the account, if I don’t use it up, I lose it although it changed a few years ago and now I can actually roll over up to $500.
back to my method…if therapy is wrapped up by July/August, I should be receiving bills in the August/September timeframe right? At the very least by November, I should have paid Shepherd all their money and I’ll know how much is left in my FSA account and how to organise – I get new glasses and prescription shades every year to get that money down as necessary. Back to last year…everything took so long that I ended up making a balloon payment on December 30th (without actually receiving a bill) cuz I wasn’t trying to lose any of my hard earned money – remember they only allow u to roll over $500.
this year, I knew I was golden. Therapy wrapped up in august;I knew I’d get my bills and they’d be paid; I wouldn’t have the angst from last year. Wouldn’t you know it, I’ve only gotten one bill for a little over 200 thus far. Steups. I’ve called to find out what the problem is and each time I was told that “they have a new system and things changed so everything’s taking a little longer” and “no ma’am, u don’t have a balance.” Double steups. Whattheheck. I can’t believe that I’ve been hounding an institution to friggin pay them! The one saving grace that I have this year is that I now know that I have till March 31st of next year to use the money but I would rest easier if I could just pay them and be done. Sigh…at last check i still have a little over $1400 in my account.
Hol’ it down – I gone so..