FSA's are NOT worth the hassle!

I'm just in a venting mood right now! We have started using our FSA (Flexible Spending Account) card on our medical expenses. All the money that is put in the account is pre-tax, so we originally thought it would be a good thing. Well, now that we started using it, we have been getting these letters in the mail from the FSA people saying that they need to see copies of receipts for each of these things to verify what we used the money for, and apparently credit card receipts don't work: they aren't detailed enough. So I had to print off the EOB (Explanation of Benefits) from the insurance for each of these transactions (each one is like 3 pages long) and fill out the form for each one.

When I called the FSA person, I told her that we were told in their information that receipts would only be requested occassionally. But she tells me that that is true IF we don't use the preferred providers, which we were never given. So she tells me that it's on their website...and she guides me through the 8 steps of clicking to get to that list. !!! Well, I see this list is only major, nation-wide stores and pharmacies. So I asked her if that meant that for every time we went to the doctor's office we'd have to fill out this paperwork? And she said yes. She continued on saying that there is one other option: we could pay for the visit out of pocket and then get a detailed receipt and submit a claim form after the fact for reimbursement. I said, "Well, honestly, that doesn't help me much because either way I have to fill out paperwork to use the money that is in this FSA account." She said, "Yes, that's correct." Grrrrrr!!!

So, after looking through all of it, printing out the forms that I needed, printing out the EOB's, and filling out the forms, I wasted 2 1/2 hours of my day, and still didn't get them all done for a couple of reasons. One, I have to have Terry's signature on all forms for submission. And two, 3 of the claims haven't finished being processed by the insurance yet, so I don't have EOB's for them. Hopefully, they will finish soon, as we only have 30 days from the date of service to submit claims back to them.

It's all just so frustrating and really raised my blood pressure this morning. But I'm trying to remind myself that we're lucky that we even have insurance, cuz so many people don't. I should be able to handle some paperwork for the sake of having insurance. I just don't think it's worth the time simply for pre-tax money. We're not talking that much money saved in the long run if you figure in the value of my time.

Lord, please give me patience!