FSAFEDS = Bureaucracy = Government

BETTER WORD is:  Disambiguation

Kelly,

Girlie, you will find navigating the private insurance landscape to be quite the same as the government's.  Why?

Simple, because all businesses have their own self-imposed form of bureaucracy.

However, disambiguation is a better choice of word:

'offices/agencies/businesses' set up a rule of thumb which appears to be just and weed out the dishonest. What this means is the FSAFEDS have to comply with laws / policies / rules that a board or governing body decided was simplistic in nature and not open to interpertation. 

Now what does this mean here: 

Simply that I (Joe Blow) has not figured out the technicalities of the FSA's process for reimbursement.  And while, I trust this office has all my families' paperwork in one file be it hard paper copy  or electronic.  This assumption on my part is fallicious reasoning in nature to trust in a system that I did not create.

I KNOW I KNOW --- I AM WORDY

Yesterday, Carol from the FSAFEDs did call me to talk about claims 1 and 2; and said they are under review with the caveat ---- this claims may be reimbursed. 

Good Thing because I have already submitted claims 3 and 4 with number 5 sitting in the wings. 

Let me say here, Carol is professional, caring and is doing her best to educate me on this process. 

With that said, when a 'federal' system works; it either works well or dies a slow painful death. 

This whole FSA (Flexible Spending Account) is designed to cover out of pocket medical expenses since most AMERICANs do not meet the criteria for tax deduction purposes at the end of the tax year based upon their Adjusted Gross Income (AGI).  This is why there is a 'standard deduction' since it is based on a fiscal assumption by the IRS; most are too lazy to keep financial records for out of pocket expenses for their family. 

Also, the use of FSAs actually may keep a tax payer in a lower tax bracket, personally I would rather stay in the 15% tax bracket instead of the next level since we are at the lower end of the '15%' and would actually lose more cash flow. 

tax brackets found here after deductions (AGI): http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm

For the record, our claims thus far this year for out of pocket medical expenses are around the ballpark of $365 dollars so far.  This will rise since we all need new glasses and have dental visits scheduled.  

Anyway,

Kelley I hope this makes sense.  I do feel like Little Red Riding Hood navigating the Big Bad Woods trying to avoid the Wolf.  Will I do this again next year; more on that later? 

But, you know my penny pinching arse..............

IF I can make a penny hollar and beg for release before I let go of it. 

I will; because money is a finite commodity.  Either you have it or you don't; we don't really believe in using credit for everyday living expenses with the exception of our home.

Thoughts from inside the coop's money vault