What Can You Do To Make It Easy?

For the last year and a half I have been in and out of Doctors offices and MRI centers trying to determine what is wrong with my ankle. Every time I go I am supposed to use a Debit card for my FSA or Flexible Spending Account. Even though I have this ankle issue, I don't like to carry the card with me. In my “make it easy” approach to life, less junk in my pockets is better.

Since last March I haven't been able to find the card, so the receipts have just been piling up on my desk. Those receipts have been clogging up the “Accumu-later” in my mind, so today I went to my wifes office to clear the clutter.


The last time I turned in a receipt for an FSA payment I filled out 4 forms in triplicate and spend 2 hours on the phone to get back my $20.00 co-pay. Needless to say I wasn't looking forward to the experience.

Ready to go with two chilled Diet Mountain Dews on the desk I stacked the receipts and logged on to the insurance company website to print the required stack of forms. When I clicked the forms the next page was a window asking if I would like to fill out the forms first and then print. I already started to relax. One less step in the process eliminated. When I clicked “use fillable pdf” I got one more choice, “use ez file online”. I clicked that, button. A quick one line with the date, doctor and amount was the entire form.

I hadn't even opened the first Mountain Dew and the first visit was almost complete. Next it asked upload or fax? Since we went digital in the office two years ago, we have a Neat Receipts scanner at every computer. I clicked upload, and opened the folder where I was going to store the scanned pdf receipts. I stacked the receipts in the scanner, pressed the pdf button and opened the first Mountain Dew.

Within a few seconds the files showed up in the upload window of the insurance company website. I selected the files I wanted and was just two mouse clicks from filing my first reimbursement request. The next two clicks were, for the electronic signature stating these were real receipts and the submit button. In less than 20 minutes I had completed what I had expected would take two or three hours. Now that is making it easy with technology.

Oh yeah, about my ankle, the new doc looked at the MRI and said you need to work it more you lazy bum. I never thought I would write about an insurance company making it easy. Time to go play with the dog for a while I guess, Doctors orders.