FSA time

It's FSA time

It's that time of year when you have to use it or lose it. What is IT? Your own money. Last year you decided how much money you were going to spend on your medical bills, expected or unexpected. Now, assuming that you had no unforeseen hospitalization, you get to decide where the remainder of your Flexible Spending Account money should be spent. I blew mine on a new pair of glasses. Actually I had budgeted for the glasses and they cost less that my last pair, so when I came up 91 dollars short and had to put the rest on my own credit card, I figured that I had made a fairly accurate choice when I determined how much money I could afford to spend on getting sick. However, no sooner had I gotten home than I received two bills, in the mail that added up to $208.69. Wow! That's nearly three hundred dollars that I fell short on my allotment. That's really gonna cost me at tax time. How could I have been so wrong in knowing how much sickness and disability my family had going on?

Of course, I could have applied my medical expenses to my itemized deductions on this years' income tax return. But, then I would only be able to claim the amount that exceeds 7.5% of my Adjusted Gross Income. I would have to pay taxes on all the rest of my legitimate expenses. I wonder how many people work their accountants to the max to squeeze past that 7.5% figure. I know that, in years past, I've spent hours on it. Now, with the FSA, I get to save the tax on all of my medical expenses up to the magical predetermined amount that I came up with, last year. Gee, wouldn't it be nice if, one day, some kindly governmental body would grant us the grace to simply deduct all of the money we may need to spend on our poor, fragile bodies.

The government also determines what sorts of medical expenses I'm allowed to spend my allotment on. Vitamins, to prevent illness, are not legitimate expenses. You can't have them unless you are in such dire straits that a doctor has to prescribe something like a B12 shot to get you back on your feet. So, vitamins are a necessary thing for your body to function. And sometimes they can be "therapeutic" - but not always. Now, I take a B12 pill every morning. No, that is not allowed. It's OK over there, but not over here. Hmm.

And what sheep we are. To look to government to provide the framework for our daily lives. To have to spend money to figure out how much money I have to send in to the government so that the government can tell me how to spend my own money; indeed, how to live my own life. To tell me what kind of car to buy, what kind of food to eat, and how to flush the toilet. The government even put into law a plan that tells you how to account for the money you pay to charitable organizations so that they can provide the services that they used to provide before the government decided that government should provide those same services. I lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help . . .

All of these little plans are gimmicks that say, "You are an irresponsible little child who can't be trusted to spend your own money or make decisions in your own life". Doesn't anyone else find this just a little bit insulting?

When the government has control of your money, then the government has control of your freedom. Doesn't anyone else find this just a little bit dangerous?