Crisis of Competence

I was listening to the radio the other day and a guest was talking about polls showing where the country’s head is. Democrats seem to think it’s abortion. That’s not even close, not even on the list of concerns. Number one was the economy and inflation, followed by a general lack of competence. And why not? Virtually all of our leaders are screwups.

But I notice it every day, in every day interactions.

Take today, for instance.

I have an expense on my FSA that isn’t justified enough. They want more justification, or for me to pay it back. This seems to happen more this time of year. For most of the year, expenses roll through the FSA card with zero feedback. I don’t notice these blips right away because they don’t send emails telling me I need to justify anything. The emails say there’s an unnamed issue and I should log in. I don’t get any of their mailings because they have my old address, which I can’t change. It has to happen from my employer, who has my new address, as does their benefits manager. I cannot find out how to have this done. I do know from trying to get herself removed from my benefits took so long that it was easier to simply do it when open registration started in the fall.

The address screwup jams me when I call, which I had to do here, because they want my zip, which is different now. Already, I’m in a bad mood since I have to call, and I know it’ll be a shitshow.

Doesn’t take long. Right off the bat I’m offered an appointment for a callback tomorrow or the next day. Really? Already?

Whatever. I can work while I listen to shitty music.

When I get an agent, wouldn’t you know, English ain’t a thing. “Excuse me?” “Can you repeat that?” FFS can you staff native English speakers? I spoke clearly enough. Then, 3000 different kinds of verification are needed. I guess caller ID wasn’t one of them. Now, I’ve worked on call center gear for decades. Most certainly my caller ID was passed to the screen, as was my name, zip code, and last 4 digits of my social that I had to cough up to get this far. They aren’t giving away money or any health information, no idea why I need to be hemmed up.

“Can I put you on hold while I look this up?” Certainly. Go for it.

I get a blip of audio when she comes back then a hangup.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! Back to start.

Second call was a guy. Dot Indian, as opposed to god knows what was before. We go through the same drill. Although he got my number for callback if we are cut off (I’m sure he had it). The reason I’m jammed up, it turns out, is that the color doc, with the medical codes, procedure, and costs was an estimate. I told him so what. The other page of that scan was the card receipt.

Estimate + Receipt with costs matching equals bob’s your uncle.

Nope. 1+1 doesn’t equal 2 here. Need another one. Sweet Jesus, I needed to choke someone.

So I gotta get another doc. I had the dentist send one. BTW – due balance is nearly 2 grand, after the root canal. Insurance will cover all of it, most likely.

What a fucking ripoff. Every year about this time I spend more and more time justifying expenses to moronic automatons. Why not just do a deposit to a savings account instead of this bullshit? I’m certain the tax savings on a lousy $2750 compared to what I spend in taxes is but a few shekels. I think the FSA is simply there to make you feel like you are getting some sort of benefit. Like someone other than you is paying.

The only benefit to doing this at all is they front the money at the beginning of the plan year. Hell, I can do that myself by moving $3k into a savings account for medical out of pocket and not have to justify expenses whatsoever and there won’t be any use it or lose it.

I have $1900 or so left in that FSA. It’s September. I haven’t had any major medical stuff this year. No colonoscopy, no upper GI scoping, no CATs, no surgeries. In a month or so I’m going to have to spend nearly two grand, or it’ll be vaporized the first of the year. This is bullshit, since at that point, it’s all my money. Money I paid in.

So, I think I’ll head to the optometrist and get some bitchin shades for when I’m on the bike. The bifocals in my current pair make it so I can’t read the instrument cluster. Maybe I get a spare clear pair.

But it’s money I have to spend, that otherwise wouldn’t be spent. Money that is most likely more than any tax savings.