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What a boring and tedious life being an adult can be sometimes. Imagine talking to anyone under the age of, say, 17 about how you spent half the morning either speaking or texting with insurance representatives about vision hardware benefits.
I've been using a $200 benefit to cover that much of the cost of my contact lenses every year for as long as I can remember. I learned today that this benefit does
not cover out-of-network providers, and Costco Optical, which Shobhit insisted I use instead of in-network Lenscrafters last year, is out of network. What remains a mystery is whether this benefit was lost out-of-network only just this year, or if this was supposed to be the case in 2022 as well. The thing is, Aetna cut me a $200 check to cover Shobhit's contact lenses back in April. I ordered my contacts in December. Why did he get a reimbursement but they won't give me one? It seems that either the check to cover Shobhit's contacts was a mistake, or the refusal to cut a check to cover my contacts was a mistake. It can't be both.
Further complicating the issue is Aetna's wildly non-intuitive website, which has an easy-to-find link for submitting online claims for reimbursement. The problem is, it only offers options for Medical and Dental, and I did not realize Vision is different, so I just submitted a copy of my Costco receipt for reimbursement under Medical last month. They deducted $150 for deductible and then cut me a check for $9.58. And now I don't know whether, if the benefit did indeed still exist in 2022, I can still get reimbursed for the full $200.
I called Aetna a
third time about this last night, only to have someone tell me, for the first fucking time, that I needed to call "I-med," which I did after getting to work today. That automated phone system directed me to get on an online chat with a representative on my mobile phone. And that guy, "Brandon," seemed able only to send me documentation of my 2023 benefits. So, I know for certain that in at 2023 at least, I can't use Costco for vision hardware because they are out of network. I will have to remember that when I order again and get Shobhit off my ass about getting them from Costco instead. I have always felt it was simpler just to order the contacts through the same place where I got my eye exams, as it is far simpler, but Shobhit is obsessed with penny pinching within an inch of our lives even if it means dealing with bureaucratic bullshit for literally weeks.
Anyway. I have to admit to my mistake in submitting the claim as Medical to begin with. Shobhit went off on me about this, trying to say it's an example of why he tries to "micromanage" me because he would have known I was doing it wrong when I submitted the claim to begin with. Except he doesn't actually know that to be true. The mistake I made was an easy one to make, based on the deeply frustrating way the Aetna website is designed. Besides, I've already gotten conflicting information from Aetna representatives themselves: a woman last night told me there was no $200 hardware benefit at all (and I truly getting tired of calling their number only to wind up with people who don't know shit), but Brandon this morning not only confirmed there is one, but emailed me the documented proof. Which also proved it doesn't cover out of network. So why the fuck did they cover Shobhit's!
I fucking hate insurance companies. Fucking hate. Hate, hate,
hate. And I say this as someone genuinely appreciative of the benefits package we get at PCC. Dealing with Aetna is still a pain in the ass. God forbid this country ever move toward universal health care and away from profit-driven health care available only to people with decent jobs.
I will sure be happy next year (more specifically, December 2023) when I can say with authority that I need to order by fucking contacts through Lenscrafters instead of trying to get them through Costco and getting reimbursed. This bullshit is neither worth the negligible savings nor is it worth the time. Even though we did manage a sweet deal when Shobhit did it: we paid for the contacts with my FSA card, then got a check for reimbursement, which was kind of like getting free cash. I had expected to get another $200 to add to the Australia travel budget. So much for that. I'd still have preferred to go without that extra influx in order not to deal with this bureaucratic bullshit.
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— पांच हजार तीन सौ छप्पन —
Beyond all that, I basically just spent last night at home watching TV with Shobhit.
I did my typical walk/train/walk home from work, which seems to my default these days: walk 0.7 miles from the office to the Monorail; ride the 1 mile on the Monorail to Westlake Station; take the elevator down to transfer to Light Rail; ride the 1 mile on Light Rail from Westlake Station to Capitol Hill Station; walk the half mile home from Capitol Hill Station. This takes the total walking down to 1.2 miles, from 2.4 miles walking the whole way—this route gives me a nice walk but cuts a mile out of the walking distance. I quite like it, and it tends to get me home the fastest, so long as I time it so I don't barely miss a Monorail train. In order for that to be the case I need to leave the office by 4:25.
I wanted chai so I immediately set out to making that once I got home and washed my hands.
We watched an episode of
Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne on Peacock while we drank our chai. Shobhit has decided her character isn’t likable and he wants
her to get murdered, and I disagree and would rather watch the rest of the series alone than keep hearing him say that over and over.
Shobhit's opinion is always malleable, though, and different depending on the day and his mood. We tried watching season 3 of
Never Have I Ever on Netflix last summer, and didn't move forward after a couple of episodes when he declared it wasn't as good. Now he doesn't remember that, and kept asking if there was more of that show to watch. So, we restarted season 3, and this time he seems to be enjoying it perfectly well. For all I know, if he were to watch
Poker Face at another time he'd like it more. But, I don't want to wait for the possibility of his changed opinion.
We watched something like three or four episodes of
Never Have I Ever. After that I spent some time on my computer, updating my budget and such before going to bed. Exciting stuff!
— पांच हजार तीन सौ छप्पन —
[posted 12:28 pm]
