I am planning to have my surgery in Mexico sometime in February or possibly March. I will probably be using Dr. Kelly. I just recently signed up for a healthcare reimbursement account that will go into effect in January. I can start withdrawing from it immediately, but I want to know if anyone else has done this, does this complicate the process?

Hi!

I am actually scheduled for Dr. Kelly on February 22 and am using my FSA credit card to pay for my entire surgery. Luckily, my company allows you to take out the max ($7500) for FSA so I am taking advantage of this since it is the last year for this amount!

I have checked with Linda @ ALighterMe and she tells me that she is very familiar with the process and paperwork. All I can say is get all your bills/documentation to submit to FSA for your claim. They will want to see the charges for the doctor and the hospital and anything else you use your funds for. I am looking up forms "just in case" to cover my rear!

Good luck with your surgery! I have spoken with Dr. Kelly several times and cant wait to meet him in person! We are definitely in good hands with him and the new hospital/hotel look super nice too!

I don't know about the FSA card would work for surgery in Mexico, but just using ours in our local area has been a total @#$%^&*()_!!!!! We won't be using that plan ever again. The insurance company sends us our EOB, then about 2 months later we get a letter from them saying they need a copy of the EOB to show that it was right to be paid out of the account. If we didn't get it to them in time they froze the account. This happened about 4 times this past year. I hope it works well for you. Good luck!!

I am planning on using mine February 10th when I am sleeved with Dr Verboonen. I saw my money is available and I am working through getting an invoice from my patient facilitator so I can have the cashiers check ready when I am there.

In order to use your FSA card, it has to be run by a company that has a merchant account coded for FSA. We paid with flex through Linda because they have a merchant account that can accept that card. I heard of other people using the same doctor, but could not pay with FSA so you need to ask your coordinator specifically if they can accept your FSA card.

@gottago

Did you have to get any other forms filled out to use the FSA or to prove that it was legit? Also, did you use your FSA money as a deposit for your surgery? I am getting mixed answers on that one. As far as I can see, you cannot use your money unless it is on the date of service.

I have had to pay for my deposit out of pocket. I am going through this right now. I thought I would be able to get an invoice but that has changed. We are fronting the money until i get down there and if I can't use my FSA card then I will have to use my visa and submit an invoice when I get home. I hope that it works.

I paid my deposit out of pocket but used some of my FSA funds to pay down my surgery costs. The coordinator ran the card through the coded merchant just like gottago mentioned above and it went through.

@rahvana

What coordinator did you go through?

I'm so glad someone started this thread because this is exactly what I am planning to do to pay for my sleeve with Dr. Kelly. The tricky part is that I don't have the card that goes with some people's FSAs. For example, my husband has a mastercard for his, so we pay medical expenses directly using his card. My account is reimbursement only. Does anyone know how I can get the money "fronted" so that I don't have to come up with fifty-five hundred in one go? Also, not to advertise companies, but I have my FSA with American Fidelity Assurance Company. Has anyone had experience with them? I sure as heck hope this works out because I have already elected to take $7,000.00 out for FSA this year! Another question: I can get my sleeve through insurance (if I'm willing to jump through mega hoops and wait or ever, and lose 5-10% of my pre-op weight, sacrifice my first born, and donate a kidney--just kidding about the last two) But I don't want to go through all this. WIll an FSA cover surgery that I elect to do self-pay, even when my insurance will cover it? Thanks!

Hi Adamsmom, I think the doctor's office you choose to go to can give you an invoice that you can give to your fsa vendor and they will cut a check directly to the doctor/coordinator as long as your doctor provides a letter stating it is medically necessary.

I am in the same boat as you are. My insurance might pay if I go through hoops and feilds and everything else but I don't want to deal w/ the hassle honestly. I've had two major surgeries in the US and both have left me w/ never ending bills.

So my surgery is set for February 10th. I have posted a couple of times because I am currently in the same situation. I was not able to front the money for the surgery and wait for FSA to pay me back. My coordinator provided me an invoice stating surgery was on January 20th. My FSA company reimburses on Friday. I am showing my money ready to fund on January 20th. This way I will have a cashiers check to take with me on the 10th. PM if you have any questions. I am using Dr Verboonen at Obesity Goodbye.

Thanks to both of you for your responses. This makes me so happy to hear because I can feel like the last roadblock to making this happen is being removed. YAY! Good luck on your surgeries.

@rahvana

What coordinator did you go through?

Sandy at alighterme

We have the Benny Card through my Husband's job https://www.mybenny.com. It's a mastercard set up as a FSA and the money is available now. I did not think of using this for the surgery until last week or I could have signed up through my job and paid for the entire surgery myself. Some cards will not reimburse for elective surgery, but as someone mentioned earlier, a letter of medical necessity will do or if it is a credit card it has to be processed through a merchant who is approved.

Rahnava -

Look at the IRS requirements. This is not considered "plastic" surgery. It is considered sugery which is covered under the guidelines from the IRS. That is why I waited until 2012 to do this surgery.