Medical Flexible Spending Account (FSA)

This is another account which normally requires significant effort to gather up all the receipts so that you can get refunded from the medical FSA. But it doesn't have to be that way. Here are some steps to take:

• Sign up for a debit card -- this will cost you some money, but is well worth it in terms of reduced time spent managing your medical FSA account.
  
• Set up your account online with your medical FSA administrator, such as TeamCornerstone.
  
• Use the debit card for all medical expenses, such as co-pays and hospital expenses, or even over the counter medication. There is normally no need to submit receipts for co-pays and hospital expenses, but you will want to hold on to receipts for over-the-counter purchases. (Note that you can always get a yearly summary of all your co-pays from your doctor/hospital and pharmacy -- so don't worry holding on to every piece of paper from these folks.)
  
• Sign up for electronic delivery of "receipt request" letters from the FSA administrator so that you can keep track of expenses for which you need to mail, fax, or even email your receipts. (This will typically be required for over-the-counter expenses).

That's it. Go online every once in a while to make sure your account is in good health .

If only we could start using electronic ways of collecting receipts! Some cell phone companies are already working on this -- I will try to cover this at some point in the future.