$3800+ at the dentist

While I hope to get a chunk of that reimbursed through my dental insurance and some of the rest of it covered via my FSA, that still hurts.

What I'm hoping for...

$1195 reimbursed from dental insurance

$1979.28 to drain my FSA (damn, should have contributed more.)

Leaves me to cover: $625.72

I hope, if it all works that well.

I'm so done with all major dental work this year.

February Net Worth

is posted here. Not great, but not as bad as it looks. The tax refund helps, but the pending reimbursement for my dental work means the dental work is showing on my credit card balance because the one check I've received has not posted and I'm expecting a mid-month direct deposit of the rest, which means the dental work will be paid off before the bill is due. But in the mean time, they show in my credit card balances. I suppose it will balance out because my dental work Wednesday will then be on the card until I get reimbursed. Insurance reasonably speedy so I can't complain, too much.

Now that my paycheck has been right I can see the difference in my FSA. Last year's election: 200, this year's, 3000. Total difference in 2x/month paycheck? $50 or $1200/year. I think that works out well in my favor. It also makes paying for the dental work far less painful. Further, the fact that I'll use the bulk of my FSA combined with my 2K dental insurance limit on dental work scares me. 

Dental Max

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I found some unspent dental monies and since I wasn't eligible for the rollover (have to have $799 or less in claims) I decided to spend it poste-haste. Or rather put in a claim since it had already been "spent" and paid on my AMEX in August. Very happy to log in and see that a check has been cut for $673, the remainder of my eligibility. 

Debating where to put that since the root canal itself is on a 2.9% for life, which I've been paying down. I guess per the snowball I should put it at the 3.9% one, but I don't religiously snowball, instead pay over the mininum on both. Thinking about being better at SNOWBALL for 2009, or better yet throwing this as an extra principle paydown on my student loan. Decisions, decisions...

Back on track...

I think... Or at least back to actual time to read and post. I checked the balance of my dental claims and realized I had ~$600 unused that I can't roll over. Without any trouble, I was able to get the paperwork for an August root canal that I hadn't submitted because I was "saving" the insurance reimbursement for the planned crown. Since all will happen after January 1, this wasn't an issue. So this should be good. 

I have to turn in my FSA form tomorrow and I think I've decided the contribution amount. Or I thought I had until I started re-obsessing over it today. I have an idea that I should put in $3300 and somehow split the crown payments between the card connected with my FSA and my credit card. Therefore I can be reimbursed by insurance for some without fully burning through my FSA funds. I'm afraid to fund the FSA with the full estimated cost of three crowns in the event that it doesn't end up that hight -- but then on the other hand I know the odds of my escaping a year without some other dental treatment is slim to none.

Decisions, Decisions....

I yucking ate my yeef...

Which was essentially what I said a few years ago while undergoing root canal on a bottom molar. I have AWFUL teeth. Case in point, that root canal is currently being retreated along with one on an adjacent tooth. Not to be left out, the tooth on the other side also decided it needed a root canal. Needless to say I am far above the $800 max in claims to be eligible for the dental rollover. I thought I'd get one of the crowns started this year so had been saving the $850 I had left of the $2000 eligibility for that. That isn't going to happen so instead I'm getting statements of services rendered that I hadn't submitted to use up the difference.

This was also exacerbated last week when the crown on the second molar from the right on the bottom broke while eating... an M&M. Perhaps that was my diet's way of telling me I shouldn't eat that. I got an emergency appointment earlier this week and a dentist reattached it. It lasted all of two days when, I think, the clamp from the root canal the specialist was finishing, knocked the crown off. Oops. So another appointment Tuesday. Because this crown broke as well as the one on the adjacent tooth (which had already broken twice before), I now know I need to get three crowns. Enter my excitement at learning how I can use my FSA. I'm going to use it to pay for the dental work that's over and above plan limits. 

Yes, I have $2k available in 2009 however crowns are covered at 50% out of network. I know the 30% "discount" in-network (although I looked at prices and it's not 30% because the out of network dentist is cheaper) and that it would then be covered at 60%, but I'm not changing dentists for the three teeth they're already working on. Maybe after the fact but I'm not changing mid procedure.

You know, it's not NYC rent that's killing me so much as my teeth!