So, I had an email conversation today that really upset me. Not that there was a really (really) good reason for me to be upset, just that I was already having a reasonably bad day, and then this sortof shoved me into an intense and prolonged anxiety attack. (Which, if my documentation can be trusted from inside said attack, also included behaviour symptomatic of Asperger’s.) The drive home was calming, largely because most of the driving I do is calming. I should post about that, too. Anyway, I’m still a bit on edge, even after talking on the phone with Mandy for the last couple of hours and otherwise working to continue calming myself after getting home, but largely I’m okay-ish now.
Really, I probably ought not to have reacted this way at all. But … here’s the emails (with the other person’s name removed):
From: [HR Person]
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 5:06 PM
To: Teel McClanahan
Subject: FW: Health Care Flexible Spending Account
According to our records, you have a balance of $480 in your health care flexible spending account for 2006. If you have unreimbursed expenses for 2006, you have until March 31, 2007, to submit receipts and receive reimbursement of this amount. Attached is a claim form which you should fax to ADP Flex Direct along with copies of your receipts.
Please give me a call at ***/***-**** if you have any questions
[HR Person], CEBS
Director of Compensation and Benefits
From: Teel McClanahan
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 5:13 PM
To: [HR Person]
Subject: RE: Health Care Flexible Spending Account
Please don’t remind me, I already feel robbed by the medical industry and teh government enough. I used exactly $0 worth of medical benefits and had $0 worth of medical spending that may have been eligible for re-imbursement. Which means that 100% of my premiums and 100% of my FSA were used to pad the pockets of GreatWest and ADP (and probably ICE, though perhaps you don’t take a direct cut of my money, but rather get reiumbursed for having participating employees). That’s something like 5%-10% of my income down the drain. Thanks to everyone in HR, for convincing me to pay for non-refundable services I never used. If I didn’t think it would get me written up or fired, this email would have been filled with obscenities. That’s how I prefer to treat people who steal my time,money, and efforts, or support companies and systems that do the same.
Teel McClanahan III
From: [HR Person]
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 5:39 PM
To: Teel McClanahan
Subject: RE: Health Care Flexible Spending Account
So neither you nor your dependents had ANY out-of-pocket expenses for doctor office visits, dentist visits, eye glasses or contact lenses, prescription drug copays, or any over-the-counter medicines or medical supplies like Tylenol, band-aids, Nyquil, etc. during all of 2006? I don’t understand how this happened. Were you planning to incur some medical expenses that you changed your mind about? I hate to see you lose this money, so I’m wondering if it would be worthwhile for us to sit down together and go over the list of eligible expenses to see if you might be able to get back a reimbursement of at least some of it.
We don’t get reimbursed for having participating employees. In fact, the plan costs us money every year. But we do it because it’s a great benefit for most people – if they plan for it and only put in what they expect to use. I’m sorry you were convinced to participate, and I’m sorry for reminding you.
From: Teel McClanahan
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 5:54 PM
To: [HR Person]
Subject: RE: Health Care Flexible Spending Account
I don’t have any dependents. I’ve been to the doctor once in the last decade. I went to the dentist once last year, but it was the checkup & cleaning that’s included, so there was no out-of-pocket expense. I don’t wear glasses or contact lenses. I don’t take prescription drugs. Glancing at the expiration date on the ibuprofen in my desk here, it looks like I bought it in 2004 or 2005, and haven’t finished the bottle yet. I think I may have bought $1.25 worth of band-aids last year, but I surely don’t have the receipt.
I can’t even figure out how to select a doctor in the first place, or what one might go to the doctor for and what is not worth going to the doctor for; I have no idea what’s normal. In fact, I had hoped to be able to figure out some of that last year and tried to figure out what might be reasonable to invest in medical benefits, going from $0 spent in the last decade to … hopefully something, and the benefits I signed up for are what ICE’s HR people told me would be appropriate. Except then I couldn’t seem to get useful help with things like selecting a doctor, and last week when I DID get sick ICE told me they didn’t even want me taking sick days, that I should just stay here and work even though I couldn’t sit up or see straight.
And that’s pretty much how I’ve been treated by ICE with regard to my health since I got here, so that’s pretty much how I’ve behaved, and I gave up on the idea of trying to figure out how to actually USE my benefits. I enrolled in the cheaper option for medical this year in case something tragic happens, like I walk in front of a bus, but I don’t actually expect to see a doctor this year, either. It’s $100 extra dollars in my pocket every month versus last year, and if I work myself half to death, maybe the coverage will be worth it.
Teel McClanahan III
From: [HR Person]
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 6:03 PM
To: Teel McClanahan
Subject: RE: Health Care Flexible Spending Account
Well, I’m honestly very sorry. I wish there was something I could do. I’m really sorry someone from HR suggested that you put $1200 in the plan. That was before my time and I can assure you that doesn’t happen here anymore. And next time you are sick, keep in mind that we now have a nurse practitioner onsite on Wednesdays from 9 am to 2 pm. A nurse practitioner is pretty much just like a physician except that they can’t do surgeries. But they can diagnose and treat illnesses and prescribe medications. That might be a place to start, although you really should have a complete checkup once a year regardless of how healthy you feel. But there is no way to tell you how to select a doctor. You could log on to the blue cross blue shield website and select the participating provider closest to your address, but that’s not necessarily the best way to do it. Most people get referrals from friends or family and then use the Blue Cross provider director to check and see if he’s in the network. There is really no other way to do it because it’s such a subjective thing. One person may love a particular doctor’s “bedside manner” while another person may hate it.
* * * * * * * *
And then I stopped responding, because I didn’t want to try to explain that I spent half an hour at the grocery store having a mild anxiety attack over trying to figure out what cookies to buy. That trying to figure out how to figure out about a doctor has been driving me literally to tears with stress and anxiety for years and years and I have no idea how to figure out.
In discussion with Mandy, I explained that I’ll probably begin to have a grasp on what I ought to have done re:medicine at this point in my life in another 100 years or so. Based on other areas I’ve begun to figure out. SO…
