If you have the option of going with a flexible spending account DO IT! It is SO nice.
We have “debit cards”, so that makes it even better.
Here’s how it works, you sign up in advance — and I was chicken and afraid that I wouldn’t use the whole amount, so went for $1000 the first year. I went to $2000 last year and got real brave and went to $3000 this year. I think that’s the max.
What it means is that your out-of-pocket expenses are deducted from your paycheck with pre-tax dollars. That does two things — automatically saves you money, but it also allows you pay those expenses with the debit card.
So I have my Medco account set up now, so that it automatically uses the debit card. When I picked up Requip at the local pharmacy last week, I used the debit card, and again this week at the contact lens doctor.
The neat part, is that you have access to the whole amount from day one. So if I wanted to go wild and buy a Dexcom system this week, I could. Or I can be conservative, which is what I am planning.
It didn’t quite work this way last year, but hopefully this year, my out-of-pocket expenses will be just about $3000 before I met the deductible and I won’t have to pay for any of my supplies, etc. out of after tax dollars.
And my contact lens doctor pointed out to me — if you don’t spend ALL the money at the end of the year, you can always buy an extra pair of glasses — her business does VERY well because of that.
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