...but it feels like a Monday.

Yesterday I got back from a long weekend at home. Today I came into the office and found a bill from Aetna (my medical insurance company) on my desk, saying that I owed them a $100 dollar copay for a refill on my medication.¹ I checked my bank statement and saw that I had already paid them, so I called them up to try and find out what was going on. The first person I spoke to said that maybe my copay had been doubled to $200 dollars: I also found out from her that my phone number had been entered incorrectly, although we managed to fix that. I had to call three other numbers - and spent my time on hold trying, and failing, to get information from Aetna's badly-designed web site - before I learned that I owed $100 dollars because the check I'd sent them had gone to pay my yearly deductible, which I'd forgotten about.

I feel better now, because it was just a matter of an annual payment of $100 for a deductible, not an increase in my copay. I can afford to pay $200 at the start of the year and $100 every three months thereafter for my meds, but I can't afford $200 every three months for it. Gave me a good scare, though.



¹ Concerta, which is a Ritalin-like medicine, except without most of the side effects, for me at least. It is not on Aetna's "preferred" list because it's expensive, but I can't take Aderall, which is what they'd rather have me doing, because it doesn't work as well as has the aforementioned side effects.

Hooray!

I didn't celebrate Mardi Gras by going out drinking, but I did do something unusual and kind of fun. My friend Marjorie told me about a small Japanese market in Narberth, PA, and since it was not freeze-your-face-off cold out today, I went there to check it out. I came back with some small dango, mochi, takoyaki and onigiri. That is, sweet dumplings, pastry cakes with ice cream in them, octopus dumplings and rice balls. I plan to have the takoyaki as part of my lunch tomorrow.

I am quite happy with this, except for the fact that I will have to go all the way to Narberth again to get more.