In this new age of finances, everyone wants to stay ahead, thus the introduction of Flex Plan accounts or as some are called Health Savings Plans.

As most of you know most companies offer these type of accounts to their employees as a means of helping them put away a determined amount of money for anticipated medical and or dental services for the year ahead.

These accounts allow a person to deposit money into a special account for healthcare procedures which may not be completely covered or not covered by their insurance.  Sounds great and for some it is a great way to have some extra money set aside for unforeseen health costs, but of course as with most everything else that sounds great, there’s a catch…One must use or lost it, and there are rules:

• The procedure must be done within the yearly time frame the money has been set aside for.
• You will need to provide proof of payment.  Most plans these days require a detailed receipt which shows the actual procedures performed and their costs.
• All receipts must be turned in by a certain pre-designated date (most plans are 12/31 of the same year the procedures were performed or 3/31 of the following year).

Now you’re probably wondering what does all of this have to do with your insurance.  Well when your insurance enters the picture, the #1 rule requires you to turn in the Explanation of Benefits (EOB) from your insurance carrier for any and all procedures they paid for towards so that the company (your employer) can be sure you’re not trying to get reimbursed for money you didn’t spend.  In other words, you’re not trying to get your own money back under false pretenses.  🙂

For instance,  you go to the dentist (since this is all about dentistry) and you have a cavity filling done.  Your insurance paid the entire bill.  Well you can’t turn in a receipt for this procedure because you didn’t pay anything our of your pocket for it.  They, the Flex Plan Nazis (as I call them), want to be sure you’re not just trying to turn in bogus receipts, so you can get YOUR money back.  Personally I feel they want you to miss the deadlines or put too much money in so they can keep your hard-earned cash!

Sure it sounds like a great thing for you and it can be, but if you over compensate for future health needs, then you just might find yourself  scrambling to spend your money on things you really don’t need.  I know people who have gotten eyeglasses (they could have  done without) just so they can get their money.  Others go and buy goo gobs of medical items like bandages, aspirin, etc.  just to make up for the over anticipated savings.

This is one stress factor you can avoid.  Do your best to anticipate future medical, dental and/or vision cost if possible when you sign up for the next flex plan savings plan.  Otherwise, you might find yourself selling those cartons of aspirin bandages and other unneeded medical items on Ebay!

Oh and I almost forgot, ALWAYS inquire about the rules of the game, because I know some flex plans change the way you can retrive your savings every year.