A Paperwork Story

Ben advised me to tell ya'll about something funny that happened today (and I'm not talking about finding a $5 Jamaican coin in the parking lot). It's probably partly because he's conked out on the couch, feeling the effects of the chemo and not up to blogging himself.

There's been a little lull in my workload, so I'm getting caught up on paperwork and tax prep today. One of the things that happens in late February is we start getting medical bills for January's treatments. Back when Ben had Group Health insurance in Seattle there was a single entity for provider and insurance, so we hardly had to deal with of the paperwork that is the communication bridge between health professionals. Now, however, there are five or six parties involved in billing; everyone wants records from each other.

Today I put together a provider bill and the correlating insurance statement with another form to send to the health saving account place. In a health saving account (HSA) one can deposit paycheck money pre-tax. In Ben's case OCI matches the funds which are deposited, which is a great deal for us so we put in the maximum amount possible each month. The HSA still gets drained before the high insurance deductible is met, but OCI also helps us out with benevolence funds when that happens (yay OCI!). Once the HSA company processes the paperwork I send they pay the medical bills out of Ben's account.

So anyway, Ben's login info for the HSA website isn't working and we're not sure exactly how much is in his account at the moment. However, we did get a tax statement with the balance at the end of 2010. I subtracted the other bills I've paid out of the account since then, and the amount left almost exactly matched the amount on the bill today - down to the dollar! The bill was 13 cents over, and since I know we put in more than 13 cents so far this year I mailed the forms away with confidence.

I say this is funny because it made me laugh, but Ben says it's not funny, it's providential. Well, it certainly is God's providence, but I think the way He provides is amusing sometimes, don't you?

Despite the blah feeling Ben has today, his blood and electrolyte counts are surprisingly not-in-the-depths. Of course, with cancer treatments not being completely wiped out makes you wonder if the treatment is fighting the cancer as effectively. We're praying it is.