Has anyone used or tried to use their Medical Savings Account Visa or MasterCard to pay for the surgery in Mexico?

I was actually curious how you get a medical visa/ mastercard. I heard of them but wanted to know how you got yours?

It is part of our flexible spending account offered through your employer. There are several different types of plans such as Medical Spending Accounts, Childcare Spending Accounts, and Health Savings Accounts. The primary benefit is that the money is tax free and can be used when you need it. For example if you put 3,000.00 a year into you MSA and your tax rate is 25% you save $750. The other benefit is that you get your full amount on the first day of your plan year. So say your plan year starts January 1st and you have signed up for $2,500 for the year and you are paid twice a month your employer deducts $104.17 (pretax) out of each of your paychecks but you can spend the money $2,500 whenever you need it (somewhat of an interest free loan). The drawback to a MSA is that you have to use it (on medical expenses) or you loose it. Some years I have a hard time using it all; I pay all my copays with it, RX and even OTC Meds. But a couple of years ago I used it all up at once by having laser surgery on my eyes. I can see clearly now . This year I haven't spent much so I want to use it for my lap-band surgery. Before I decided to have this surgery I was going to get braces with it.

If you don't have a flexible spending account at work ask your employer to look into it. We were one of the very first companies to go to the Visa/Mastercard debit cards and our employees love it. It is a very good benefit employers can offer their employees and the cost is minimal to the employer.

There is even new regualtions (legislation) coming down that is going to make these plans even better.

Barb, I had my surgery with Dr Kuri in MX and they took MC/Visa and I guess other credit cards. However, they discourage your using them. It apparently costs the doc alot in fees to run the charge (several hundred dollars for a $8950.00 surgery) so the doc DOES charge that back to the customer. I guess he adds it to the bill? If that's the case, it would all go on the card. Anyhow, check with your Mx surgeon to find out their policy on accepting credit cards. You may have to find a way through/around it and still bill your Medical account somehow? Good luck!

The way my flex plan works is that you can submit any medical bills, co-pays, etc. that aren't covered on your insurance. The criteria they use is if it can be used as a tax deduction. I used mine as a tax deduction (medical necessity, co-morbities) cause I had already used up my flex plan. Legally you cannot do both.

Do I understand correctly though that I could claim this surgery on my flexible spending acct? Im planning on doing lap band in the Spring of next year and if so that would work out great that I could claim this and get some of the money back up front tax free and then just have them continue to take out of my check for the rest of the year.. what proof would need to be given, I assume a receipt??

Yes, you are correct. You will need to check the specifics of you plan, but all I have to do is fax a copy of the paid receipt showing what procedure or medication was purchased and I get reimbursed. When I don't use the debit card they reimburse me electronically by depositing it directly into my designated bank account.

I was considering saving some money in my flexible spending accout for future plastic surgery to remove excess skin, however I called them and they say I can not use it on plastic surgery. I was really disappointed. I don't know if spending spending accounts differ but perhaps they do. I t would seem any medical expense would qualify, but they say no.

Does anyone else have more information onthis issue?

The question of what is and is not an appropriate expense for one's medical savings account or flexible spending account can only be answered by the employer. Accounts are set up differently, and some FSAs don't include medical reimbursement accounts at all. We can't possibly tell what your employer has set up as a benefit for your company.

IF you have a medical reimbursement account or health savings account, there is a definitive list of what are considered appropriate expenses available from the IRS. I don't have the specifics handy, but if you search the IRS.gov website I'm sure it won't be hard to find.

Thanks for the info.. I pulled the info from my employer and it states it does not cover cosmetic surgery ... but does cover services that are medically necessary..

That's basically the standard; it has to be medically necessary. Perhaps a plastic surgeon can make a case for it--I've heard that fungal infections etc. can happen below a stretched out stomach that's lost a lot of weight. It's worth looking into. FYI, for my plan I first have to submit the bill to the insurance company, then submit to the flex company the "reply" stating co-pay or whatever.

PLEASE stop assuming that a panniculectomy or abdominoplasty or reduction mammaplasty is purely cosmetic. INVESTIGATE!!!

My surgeries were covered (BC-PPO) and when I finally lose more weight and regain the same symptoms, I'll need a revision and that should be covered, too. Our daughter's BR was covered by her insurance (Aetna).

OF COURSE, the insurance companies automatically denied the preauthorization the first time around. That's what their computers are programmed to do...certain codes are just flat out denied by the computer without human review. If you are willing to accept that response, they will save a lot of money and you will spend a lot of money.

But all you have to do is develop data which shows that YOU meet the criteria that YOUR EMPLOYER and THE INSURANCE COMPANY agreed to. Once you do that, they have no choice but to honor their end of the contract.