I hate you FSA

I hate the Flex Spend people. I do. I hate them. A few weeks ago I got a letter in the mail from them basically saying, "Hey, we see you spent $96.52 on your flex spend card. We're going to deny this claim unless you send us the bill proving this is a legitimate charge." It wasn't a big deal when I got it. I assumed it was a charge I incurred last year during one of my THREE trips to the ER. I knew I had used my card for somewhere between $90 and $100 for a co-pay, which it turns out, we didn't even have with our insurance. But that's another story for another day.

Well, then I kinda forgot about that letter. Then I got another one, same deal pretty much. In true Amy style I blew that one off too. Last week I got another letter that said the same thing except they also temporarily deactivated my flex spend card until I got it straighted up. That's when I decided to actually follow-up on the letter.

I called our hospital billing department and requested a copy of the ER bill from last year showing I used my flex spend card for that co-pay. When it came in the mail I noticed the amount I spent on that co-pay was different than the amount on my letter. I called the flex spend people today to see what was up.

Well...they say I used my card at our 7th Street hospital on 2-16-08 in the amount of $96.52. They have no other information about it except that my card was swiped. No department, no anything. Goody. I haven't been to the 7th Street hospital since December '07. She asked me if I could have used my card to pay off a bill from '07. I said no because all of our '07 flex spend dollars were used up in '07. (As per flex spend rules). She said, "Well if you would have used it for a bill from '08 that's why it would have been denied." I said, "I understand that. As I said, all of our '07 flex spend dollars were used up in '07. In fact the last dime we had on that card was used for that ER co-pay on 10-1-07. I know that '08 dollars cannot be used for '07 expenses." Jesus!

So I hang up with her and call our hospital billing department. They look me up and said the last payment for anything from me was in 2007. NOTHING in 2008 at all. I specifically had her look at 2-16-08 and nothing. She said there was someone else in the system with my name so she looked her up too and nothing in 2008 for her either. I was kind of hoping, actually, that she would find something under the other chick's account just so I'd have an answer as to why this was happening. She was very nice but couldn't help me out. She gave me the number to Physician's Billing to see if the doc's have anything for me.

Called them, same situation. Nothing for 2008. There are bills for 2007, but nothing billed in 2008.

Call the flex spend people back. Explained what I had just done and reiterated that I still feel this is not my bill. The woman was NOT having it. She again accused me of trying to use '08 dollars for an '07 bill. I told her I had used up my '07 dollars in '07 and that I know '08 dollars can't be used for '07 services. This is when my voice started getting raised. I said, "So you're telling me that this is it. You're just saying, well the card was swiped at this hospital and now you're just screwed???" She said, "All we show is that the card was swiped at this location, yes. We have no other information." I said, "Why? Why wouldn't you have more info? This is MY money! Credit card companies do it better than this." She said, "Are you sure you didn't use it for a previous bill?" I said, "Why would I go to the hospital to pay a bill? Why wouldn't I just mail it in? They don't have like a payment counter! It's not Best Buy! Plus the BILLING department confirmed I made no payments on that day. Pretty sure they would know. It's not like I walked into the freaking gift shop and tried to buy, what, $96.52 worth of flowers and magazines with my FLEX SPEND CARD!!!" She said, "You can dispute it." I said, "That's exactly what I want to do." She said, "You'll have to fill out paperwork." (As though that would be a deal breaker for me.) "Fine. Whatever the hell I have to do."

So I gave her my e-mail address so she could e-mail the info to me. I just got it and have found the perfect solution within the dispute packet. I can request a copy of the signed receipt. I know whenever I use my flex spend card it's just like a credit card...you have to sign a receipt. Seems to me if the card was used on 2-16-08 there should be a signed receipt somewhere out there. We'll see what that gets me. I'll keep you updated.