For those folks glued to this blog to learn about the whole ‘Grab Bag' thing, fear not.  For as best we can tell it pretty much goes into perpetuity.  However, it is definitely time for the staff at Gradock to take a break and cover some other ground.

It is hard to believe it's been almost a year since we plunged into the world of high deductible health plans (HDHPs) and health savings accounts (HSAs).  And brothers and sisters have we learned a lot.  If you were around to read this blog a year ago you might recall the Alice and Wonderland-like journey through the land of insurance and specifically HDHPs.  There were (and are) some amusing articles written about that little journey, the highlights of which are found in Hold the Lettuce   and Hold the Pickles (click on either link for your entercational  pleasure) both located on the HSAeducator.com website.

As luck would have it, we ended up not being real happy with our high deductible health plan because it said one thing, it actually did another.  Apparently accountability does not really apply to insurance companies when they seemingly make errors.  But one thing positive I can say is that it had great well care that covered our physicals this year.  Well care is a benefit can be found in a number of HDHP products.

So my wife still thinks I am too stupid to lead the process of finding a new plan.  She has taken this bull(ship) by the horns, sharpened her profanity skills, and thrown both feet and the rest of her body into the process.

Since last year we met this guy, whom we have mentioned in a couple of blogs before, named Scott Borden, a.k.a. "My HSA Guy."   Scott is hugely knowledgeable about health insurance and understands the ins and outs of HSAs, so I suggested that my wife give him a buzz.  Which amazingly, she did.

Anyway, she and Scott are big ole buds now, and after some consultation he set her down the path of a different HDHP policy from a different insurance carrier.   The new policy, if we are approved, should serve our families needs better than the one we have right now.

We'll do a "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" on our current and new plans here in the near future, but I want to offer up a small piece of advice to anyone who is either smart enough to allow their significant other to figure out their insurance, or to anyone who feels like brilliance is their own and wants to do it themselves. 

At such time you get ready to fill out the application, you will likely find it to be a lengthy and formidable form.  If you fill it out online, it is not good enough to merely save it in the in the software that is serving it up (the insurance company's).

My wife, after spending over an hour with the form (maybe more) filling medical history from the past ten years, hit "save" multiple times.  The next day, when she went back to work on it some more, "poof" it was gone.

Hell hath no fury like that of a woman who has filled out an encyclopedia of family medical history only to have it disregarded like a pair of old shoes.

So for goodness sakes print off a hard copy of all your hard work.  Save a copy on your hard drive if you can.  Do whatever it takes to keep from completely losing it.  Sounds ridiculous, I know, but fill out those forms one time, and you'll never want to do it again.