I checked my cafeteria plan for medical expenses and discovered to my horror that I’ve got over 1k left in the account. That has never happened to me before. Usually by this time of year I’ve run through the $1500 I set aside for medical stuff. I guess we’ve been healthier than usual this year! (Well, and also we aren’t going to the therapist anymore and we only see our psychiatrist every three or four months.)
Consequently, I have been frantically finding ways to spend that money, because if it’s not gone by the end of the year then the gov’t gets the leftovers. I made an eye appointment for Saturday which is something I’d been meaning to do anyway because I think our prescription is a little off. I imagine I can spend a good three to four hundred dollars on new glasses and prescription sunglasses.
I also scheduled an appointment with our new dentist. We fired the old one for being a moneygrubbing dickwad and haven’t seen the new one yet. I hope the new one isn’t a pain in the ass.
Then I made an appointment for our psychiatrist because we do need meds, and it’s another way to use up $100 or so.
Last but not least, I dug up the paperwork for the Vanderbilt Autonomic Dysfunction Center and started to fill out the questionnaire. This requires an appointment with my cardiologist to get the paperwork about my non-functioning autonomic nervous system and a series of blood pressure recordings in various positions. I might have to see my neurologist as well, although I’m not entirely sure about that yet.
Once it’s all filled out I’ll send it on to Vanderbilt and we’ll see if I either 1) qualify for one of their research studies, or 2) they want to see me just as a patient to figure out what’s going on with me. Or, I suppose, 3) don’t want to see me at all, is also possible. We’ll find out. My choices were Iowa, Ohio or Tennessee. I continue to find it incredibly odd that none of the universities on the East Coast have any sort of autonomic disorder clinics.
I wonder if my cafeteria plan will let me use the money for plane tickets to Nashville. Probably not.
This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 2:17 pm and is filed under miscellany. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Travel expenses to and from a doctor or treatment facility *may* be covered under your Section 125 plan if the treatment is medically necessary. You’ll have to have your doc write a “Letter of Medical Necessity” to get it covered. If it’s just for a study, then travel probably won’t qualify. Check with your administrator to see if they need any other paperwork.
You can also use your 125 to purchase OTC stuff like allergy meds, cold/flu remedies, and painkillers. Just be sure to save your receipts to send in with your claim form. My last employer was a TPA for cafeteria plans.
And why did you pick TN of all places?!?! If you’d picked Iowa, you might have been close enough for a visit. *pouty lip*
August 10th, 2008 at 9:06 am
I’m down to a few hundred in mine, which will be gone in a couple months thanx to being forced to switch to crappier insurance.
Bummer you can’t share!