kingrat

The mother of my a high school classmate died from Alzheimers this afternoon during the middle of the thunderstorms that passed through the area.

I am so sad for her, but I also expect her family is relieved that Marilyn isn't suffering anymore.

Watching a video Nancy took earlier today of her mother having a slightly lucid moment and singing with those in the room was heartbreaking. It took me back to when Mom and Gram died. Mom had her mind but not her body. Gram's Alzheimers had taken her mind. And I was relieved both times by the time they died. For them and not having to suffer, and for me in the hopes that my images of them would finally start to be restored to them in better days.

I can't think of them even today without the images of them suffering, though it doesn't completely drown the good memories anymore. I hope Nancy has a better experience than I did.

When I put in my notice at the last job, I assumed my insurance would carry through to the end of the month. I had an CT scan scheduled for my last day (a Friday), and the related oncologist appointment for the following Tuesday. In my exit interview at 1 pm on that Friday, I was informed that my insurance got cut off at midnight. I hadn't read the documentation I was sent two days earlier closely enough.

So I scrambled to apply for insurance that day, rather than do it the following Monday as I'd planned. Got on WAHealthPlanFinder, put in my info, including that my last day of coverage was 3/24. Picked a plan. Got confirmation that night that I was approved and that I should call the insurance company (Regence) or go to their web site to pay. Start date 4/1.

Called the oncologist on Monday and delayed my appointment for a week. Called Regence to find out how to pay. They had no record of me. CSR said it took a couple of days to get in the system. That's fine. I expect these things.

I get "secure email" from Regence on 4/3 saying they need a letter from my employer before they can approve my insurance, deadline 4/10. I submit it online the same day. Within the hour. On 4/5, having heard nothing, I emailed Regence asking what's up. I get a non-committal response. There'll be a new deadline if that doesn't suffice.

On 4/10, having heard nothing I call my oncologist and delay the appointment until May.

On 4/11, I get a request for a document from my previous insurance, deadline for submission 4/25. Letter from the employer wasn't good enough. Note that this is the day after the previous deadline. I immediately call Cigna, the previous insurance. The document from them arrives on 4/17, and I submit it online that day.

On 4/26 (the day after the deadline), having not heard from them and starting to worry, I call the underwriting department. They say they've approved it and I need to call the exchange to arrange payment. Payment goes through Regence anyway. So I call the exchange, they have no record of the approval and as far as they are concerned, it was approved on 3/25. I need to talk to Regence. So I call Regence again, the regular line this time thinking it's out of underwriting's hands. But the CSR just transfers me to underwriting. This time the underwriting person tells me the application was approved this morning at 10:36, but that there's nothing they can do on their end to speed of processing any more. Later in the call, she tells me because it's an exchange based policy, it will take 4 days to get the paperwork transmitted back to the exchange, rather than the normal two. This means that the earliest I would actually have insurance is the last day of the fucking month, but I'd have to pay for the entire month. But even that's unlikely because after the exchange gets it the information has to be put back into Regence' system for payment and then to send me my insurance card. So I won't be insured until May at least, but I'll have to pay for April.

And no guarantee that all this paperwork will be processed before my appointment.

So, frustrated, I file a complaint with the Washington Insurance Commissioner, explaining all this. Total delay that I'm responsible for is a few hours. Total delay due to Cigna is 6 days. Total delay due to Regence (and possibly some due to the Washington insurance exchange) is 27 days. So far. I request:

• A refund of any premiums I have to pay for April.
• That Regence word its document requests so that everything can be submitted in one shot, with requirements understandable to people who aren't insurance terminology geeks.
• That Regence staff its underwriting department sufficient that paperwork processing happens in a timely fashion rather than the day after deadlines.
• A pony

I tweet the previous bit out too, tagging the Regence Twitter handle. That person wants my info and I'm reluctant to give it, having been on the phone for an hour today already. However, about an hour later she's on the line with me and with the exchange at the same time, and the exchange is putting in a ticket to change my start date to 5/1. With the Regence person on the line, she doesn't think there will be any problem approving it. It would have required me putting a request in to Regence and paperwork being sent back and forth without that. I also recorded all this portion. Thank you Google Voice! It'll probably mean I get one set of insurance cards for a start date of 4/1, and a second set with a start date of 5/1.

I'd rather have gotten the insurance processed in a timely fashion, and my oncologist appointment not delayed for a month. But it's better than nothing. And I still want them to rewrite their requests and staff the hell up. I doubt the insurance commissioner will order that however. Still, I hope Regence has to at least spend some cycles on responding to those parts of the request.

Talked to a travel agent to get my first international trip since 2005 going. I'm going to visit Denmark and Sweden, including where my ancestors are from, Langelands and Piteå. Tentatively looking at August or September for 2-3 weeks.

I’ve highlighted the index fund for large-cap and the option with the next lowest expense ratio, and the same for the small-cap index fund. Those percentages indicate the amount the fund managers skim off the top every year. As a retirement saver, you never even see it because they don’t list this percentage in how much you make. They could do this (examples use a 1% expense ratio for arithmetic convenience):

Instead, they do this:

Notice in my example, the fee is a percentage of the total, not of the increase. An average fund manager might make the investor $500. An extraordinary fund manager might make $700. The average fund manager charges $105. The extra-ordinary one charges $107. Now, you might think you are getting a steal of $200 for only $2 more, but the real travesty is that the average manager gets $100 for very little work. To see that, look at an index fund.

The small-cap index fund I highlighted uses CRSP US Small Cap Growth Index to benchmark. Compared against their own benchmark, they lose over the last three months but just barely: return of 1.58% vs. the benchmark return of 1.6%. They compare very closely because all an index fund does is buy exactly what’s in the index.

For comparison, the actively managed fund uses Russell 2000 Value as it’s benchmark index. Compared against that, the managers lost 0.28% vs. the index’s gain of 1.78%. These managers are trying to beat the index by picking better investments than the index, charging for their “expertise”, and losing.

Now, that’s a short period of time and perhaps at other times the actively managed fund does better. But over time, index funds have better returns than actively managed funds. There are exceptions, but those options aren’t pertinent to the broad market investments that are available in a 401(k).

So basically, those investment options I have? I’m giving away $60 (for the large cap fund) to $115 (on the small cap fund) every year for nothing (on a baseline portfolio of $10,000). If I’m saving money every year for retirement, that amount grows every year, and cuts into the compounded interest every year.

All of this stuff is pretty well written about all over, but regular people don’t pay attention for a variety of reasons. I’m not naming my employer here, but they really should be doing better by their employees.

Originally published at King Rat. You can comment here or there.