Medical Payments and FLEX Spending accounts

[MikeT]

(Not an injury thread, just how to pay for it. I hope this is in the right forum.)



What do you guys think about this? I have some pretty good medical bills from my last get off (collarbone surgery). I am now receiving the bills in the mail for what the insurance didn’t cover. The Dr. Bills have the spaces on the bill showing how much of the bill is 30 days past due, 60 days, 90 days, and 120 days. I know I have a little leeway on those but the Hospital bill says the whole thing is due NOVEMBER 11th.

Here is the problem. I want to allocate the hospital bill to my FLEX spending account card that won’t have money on it until January 1st 2005. The FLEX card is where you say that you want say in November 2004 to put $1500 on it that will be available in January of 2005 and then it gets taken out of my check in equal amounts throughout the year 2005 pre-tax. My dilemma is how to get the hospital to wait until January ’05 for payment.

If any of you have any experience with this type of thing could you post it here?

Thanks

MikeT

 

[nephron]

It gets better, Mike. The guy in the next room had no net worth, no job, 3 divorces, 20 kids and 250 grand bill, but the hospital won't even bother asking him to pay. Perhaps the social workers got him on the dole before he left (Medicaid/Medicare).

The guy across the hall is an illegal alien, and he's good to go, too.

Your prices just went up, because you just paid for the former two.

......just tryin' to cheer you up, man. ;)

 

[tnrider]

my understanding with medical bills is that as long as you pay something toward your account monthly ($5) they can not force collection. for that matter, i doubt that your account will be "aged" enough for them to bother collection from nov - jan (that is only 60-days). of course, i would call them and tell them what is happening (document it all, including who you talked with and time, etc) - you still may get hit with late fees and i know nothing of special NC regulations... most hospitals have people that handle payment plans - ask for this and they may work it out for you (disclaimer, i think i know lots of stuff but can't stand behind any of it... :clue: ) i have even ignored what i felt was a bogus medical charge - documented it, and sat it out for one year, simply told the collection agency I refused to pay and why -- it then went away after 12-months w/ no apparent harm to my credit rating (of course it was only $125)

 

[Smit-Dog]

Not sure if I understand exactly how your particular flex spending health card works, but in general, this is my understanding of the rules (as set by the IRS):

1) Before a given calendar year starts, you elect to set aside a certain amount in your health care account. Let's say you decide to set aside $2000 into this account. Your employer will deduct $38.46 per week (or equally apportioned according to whatever your pay period is).

2) You pay your portion of medical bills throughout the year (co-pays, prescriptions, deductibles, etc.), and submit a claim reimbursement form along with receipts showing payment to get paid out of your health care account.

3) Let's say this is for calendar year 2004. You can only submit health care expense claims that have a service date in 2004. If you incur a medical expense on 12/31/2004, but don't pay it until 1/15/2005, you can still submit it. I believe that it must be received by January 31 of the following year (2005 in this example) to get reimbursed.

4) You can only get reimbursed up to the amount you decided to set aside ($2,000 in this example). If you end up having more out-of-pocket medical expenses than the elected amount for a given calendar year, you can't "increase" your election during the year. It's kind of a gamble - elect too little, and you miss out on pretax funds for paying medical bills. Elect too much, and you essentially give away that money.

5) If you don't submit claims for all the money in the health care account, you lose it / forfeit it.

6) You can submit claims up through your elected amount, even though your weekly contributions into the health care account have not accrued to the maximum. For example, you could submit a claim for the full amount, i.e. $2,000 on March 1st, and quit your job March 2nd. Even though your weekly contributions have not fully accrued to the maximum amount elected, you do not owe that money back. It's the risk the employer takes. However, if you have accrued lets say $400 into the account by March 2nd, and do not have any valid claims to get that money, you lose it. It's the risk the employee takes.

7) You can also submit claims for over the counter "health care" items: Band-Aids, Preparation-H, aspirin, etc.

This is my understanding, but I'd consult your benefits department for specifics of your plan.

 

[MikeT]

They just told me something about they go by date of service. That means that if I got surgery in 2004 that I caan't use my flex card in 2005 to pay for it.........

This might be a problem.

 

[oldguy]

you can not use an account setup in 2005 to pay services renderred in 2004.
Also remember before you set it up to estimate as close as possible because you do not get a refund or credit for any money not used from the account. Anything left just dissappears.

we also found out that if you are committed thru payroll deductions to a set amount that if you have a legitimate bill dated 01/04/05 (just picked a random date) that you may draw out the amount needed even if it hasn't been with held yet. Example you are committed to an account of $50 every 2 weeks ($750/yr) and on 01/04/05 you go in for medical care which is goiung to cost you out of pocet $600. You can make the claim for $600 even tho you have only $50 in the account. You can take advances up to the amount you committed for the yearly account