Insurance guy: "Oh, your FSA was only active for a week in October."

Me: "Nuh-uh."

Him: "Well, you'll have to talk to the employer."

Me: "And no one has thought to mention this to me any of the four previous times I've called?"

Him: "..."

I want to set something on fire.

That seems like a valid response.

Yours, not his.

The good news is that I called his benefits people, and I'm actually talking to the same woman who helped us last time, so she's familiar with this.

I think later, there will be alcohol. Not in conjunction with the fire.

I think later, there will be alcohol. Not in conjunction with the fire.

Oh, come on, live a little.

There's nothing that makes me more hopelessly outraged and helpless-feeling than those kinds of calls. Working it out~ma.

I'm feeling very "you had ONE JOB, insurance company" about this.

I have used "Huh, that's weird." Some folks find it validating that the weirdness they're seeing isn't in their heads.

Oh, and behalf of all people who are answering these phone calls, thanks for being patient. Nobody calls us when things are going well, so we can get a bit burned out on tales of woe. We know people are not happy to talk to us, giving us the chapter and verse on the depth and desolation of your existential despair does not inspire us to help you more than we already have. We want to fix your problem. We don't want to talk to you again as much as you don't want to talk to us again.

My last call said I was cheerful and positive and helpful, and the sad voice in my head said, "Lady, if you only knew." I did say, "That's because you're a nice person." She laughed, but hey, positive reinforcement.

Jessica, thanks for the info. That makes a great difference.

ita, you're going to be a two blocks away from my home?

My ongoing saga is with my new ACA plan. My old plan was with BCBS. My new plan is with BCBS. On the healthcare.gov site, it says I'm going to be paying $471.30, after the subsidy.

My old plan ran out March 31st and my new plan started April 1st. There's my problem right there, I think. So for the past five weeks I've been calling, once a week, to tell them, hey, I'd like to pay my new premium for April, only the number on your website and paper bill is wrong. First call: Oh, right, your account has some upcharges on it and those are now illegal under the ACA, only we forgot to take them off of your new rate. No problem, have it fixed next week.

Next week: Upcharges are gone. Yay! Premium is now listed...for exactly twice the amount it's supposed to be. For the next two weeks I called in and they said they were working on it, but I should wait to pay until the corrected bill arrived. But I still have coverage, right? Of course, of course, there's a grace period through the end of the month.

Then I get a statement saying, hey, you haven't paid your bill! So that week's call, I said, look, I really want to pay you and receive coverage. Why don't you go ahead and pay the correct amount, they say. Ok, sure. It'll be corrected by the end of the week.

Last two weeks: Still being worked on. It'll be corrected by the end of the week. Me: So I'll call you again on Monday!

But seriously, health care, you are at the end of your grace period and mine. FIX THIS!

Relatedly, does anyone have experience with a specific HSA bank? Like HSABank? The only one with a local branch that offers them is Wells Fargo, and isn't Wells Fargo evil like BoA which I am just now escaping? So I'd be looking at a national bank, but I don't have any idea which ones are good.