I got a letter yesterday marked “Important Tax Documents Enclosed,” which was weird because we filed our taxes two months ago and I should have had all my documents by the end of January. Surprisingly enough, it really was a tax statement–way to be on time, folks!–for a health savings account that I didn’t realize I even had. A health savings account with over $1600 in it. What the what??
So I dug through my files to see if I could find more information about it. I had exactly three things related to this mysterious HSA: a welcome document, a “you might want to look at the other options we provide” document, and one with a credit card attached. A credit card I had never activated and which wouldn’t expire for another year and a half. Curiouser and curiouser. I called the number on the papers to talk to someone and find out what in the world was going on and why I had no recollection of any such HSA.
Evidently I had set up the account during that quit-my-job-and-start-teaching-in-a-matter-of-days whirlwind in July of 2008, which would explain why I didn’t really remember doing so. There was just WAY too much going on at the time. Obviously they’d only sent me a handful of letters in the meantime, we didn’t have any medical expenses while I was teaching, and after that year I probably assumed that the HSA just went away with the rest of my benefits. No wonder I forgot about it entirely.
Turns out it didn’t go away though. It’s still very much there and very much active. Now that I know about it, I have a couple options for what to do with it. a) I can activate the credit card and use it to pay for medical expenses, or b) I can cancel the account and receive a check for the remaining balance. Either way, it’s like putting on a coat you haven’t worn in months and finding a $20 bill…times like 100! And talk about great timing. Finding some extra money to cover whatever our insurance won’t takes a lot of the stress out of having a baby and all the hospital/pediatrician bills that come with it.
Sometimes it totally pays to be forgetful!
In other news, no baby yet. Which you probably already figured out. Any day, though. Meanwhile, here’s another picture of me being pregnant. Because I haven’t taken new photos in ages and because blogs need pics. They just do. And looking at this one makes me feel slightly less enormous than I really am. So…there’s that.
That is AWESOME. Hurray, universe!!! Seriously, so delighted for you. What perfect timing!
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1. That is indeed awesome.
2. You look terrific.
Rach: I KNOW. The only way it could have worked out better is if there were a few more zeros on the end of the balance… 😉
Th.: Why thank you.