Not so flexable benefits

We have a medical flexible spending account. For those who don't know what that is, it is an account we set up and put aside a certain amount of money each year to be used for medical expenses. It is an easy way to save for that rainy day. The money is used mostly for things like prescriptions and co-pays but can be used for medical items like OTC pain relievers and cough syrup.

Our insurance provider provides us a flex benefit program complete with card that can be scanned like a credit card at doctor's offices, pharmacies, and some retail locations. The advantage is that all you need to do is swipe and sign and you're good to go. No having to save credit card receipts or check statements and sending them in at the end of the year. The disadvantage is the plan provider is very specific on what charges it wants to accept.

Over the past few years, I've learned the hard way what happens when "Big Brother" gets a hold of my account info. Ninety percent of the time there is no problem with what I use the card for. It's the other ten percent that gets me all in a bother.

When a purchase is made that is not associated with a prescription or a doctor's office co-pay then it gets the attention of the good folks over at Big Brother Institute. They flag it as questionable and then send me a lovely letter informing me that I need to provide documentation of this expense to prove it is a legitimate purchase. Wait, I thought this was supposed to eliminate the need for keeping detailed receipts. I then have a certain amount of time to produce the receipt or other purchase info and send it to them so they can determine whether or not we spent our flex money correctly. Ummm, isn't this supposed to be our money we are spending? The receipts must have the date and description of item bought on it or it doesn't qualify. That means that the little credit card-like receipt they print out at time of purchase doesn't count unless there is some form of itemized receipt to go with it. An example would be a bottle of cough syrup bought at Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart receipt that says "cough syrup" must be sent in. Once again, wasn't this supposed to eliminate my paperwork hassle?

Because I have been sent several of these "prove it" letters, I have taken to saving any receipt that I get from the doctor's office, pharmacy, or any other business that I use that card at. Sometimes I know there will be questions asked so I wait for the letter to arrive and send my receipt in and other times I get one of those "prove it" letters and go "What the????"

I got one of those letters recently. It contained about 9 different items that I needed to verify. Several of them were for the vision appointments and services we used in the past few months and one was for a dentist appointment charge. It was the last on that had me baffled.

It was a $101 charge from our local clinic. I looked at the date given and checked on the calender and it corresponded to a doctor appointment so I called the clinic to find out what the appointment was for. It was Andrew's 3 year check. I questioned why the high amount and the receptionist could not give me an answer. My first thought was that someone screwed up and charged me the appointment cost instead of the co-pay but that did not happen. I called the number for the flex benefits and they had no clue what this charge was for so I got sent to the insurance company. I asked the person my question and got the same answer so I was transferred to yet another department. Even though everyone was friendly, no one had a clue as to what this charge was for. The well check was a covered claim (except co-pay) and there would be no reason for the flex card to pay. Baffled, I decided to call the clinic business office to see if maybe they had made a mistake.

For some strange reason, the billing department is not located in the main clinic but I was given the correct phone number to call. When I called the billing department, the lady helping me was also baffled as to why I had this charge. I did find the original receipt form that visit (I save everything) and discovered a $69 charge added to the co-pay. Neither of us could figure out what it was for. Finally, after several minutes of digging around, the charges were found. She said that she would mail me the copy of the outstanding charges ( I still have no idea what they are) and I would get them in a few days. I thanked her and hung up.

So basically, I have a stack of paperwork that I have to organize and send in to my flexible benefit company to prove to them that I have been using my account for services and items that they deem medically necessary. I suppose I could have just found the receipt for the questioned doctor appointment and sent that in but I'm almost positive that I would have just gotten another "prove it" letter.

Tell me how this is supposed to simplify my life?