This post is about:
Quicken Medical Expense Manager V2 2008
I need to figure out how to enter expenses for my son's orthodenture. I've discussed the issue with both my insurance company and our orthodontist, and everyone is, finally, on the same page as to how claims are filed and payments are made. There are two alternate procedures that I'll discuss, but I can't figure out how to enter the expenses and reimbursements in either scenario. Here goes:
Scenario 1:
The orthodontic work costs $8,000 and there is a 20 month course of treatment. The orthodontist gets paid the entire $8,000 in a lump sum, and thereafter, he sees the patient as many or as few times as is necessary during the course of treatment (which could take longer than 20 months). Sometimes the patient has monthly visits and sometimes the visits are more frequent, and, at times, less frequent. What the insurance company does is to divide the $8,000 fee into 20 monthly installments of $400. Let's say that the plan starts in January, you'll get back the $400 (minus copayments and deductables, of course) for January. Let's say that the second visit is on March 2, the insurance company would then reimburse $800 (minus copayments and deductables) for February and March. Let's say that the next visit is on March 30, you'd get nothing back on the insurance (because you were already paid for March). If the subsequent appointment is in April, $400 (minus copayments and deductables) for April, etc.
Scenario 2:
The orthodontic work costs $8,000 and there is a 20 month course of treatment. The orthodontist gets paid $2,000 up-front and then receives 20 monthly installments of $300. The orthodontist still he sees the patient as many or as few times as is necessary during the course of treatment (which could take longer than 20 months). Sometimes the patient has monthly visits and sometimes the visits are more frequent, and, at times, less frequent. What the insurance company does is to pay the up-front fee as the first installment and then divide the remaining $6,000 of the fee into 20 monthly installments of $400. Let's say that the plan starts in January, you'll get back the $2,000 (minus copayments and deductables, of course) for January. Let's say that the second visit is on March 2, the insurance company would then reimburse $600 (minus copayments and deductables) for February and March. Let's say that the next visit is on March 30, you'd get nothing back on the insurance (because you were already paid for March). If the subsequent appointment is in April, $300 (minus copayments and deductables) for April, etc.
As you can see, in both scenarios, there is a disconnect between the cash outlays and the reimbursement and between the fee associated with the particular visit and the reimbursement of the fee. Keeping track if this would be a nightmare unless QMEM can do it. Can it?
This post is about: Quicken Medical Expense Manager V2 2008
As I understand both scenarios that you present, the common elements are:
1) Dental services,
2) Multiple trips
3) Up front payments by you
4) Multiple reimbursements by your Insurance.
QMEM can handle this scenario easily. QMEM does not require an association between "visits" and payments.
To record thia, I'd be inclined to create an "expense" for each actual visit, using the same Provider and Service to tie them together. Thus the mileage is tracked accurately.
I think I'd record all of the expenses, and all of the insurance reimbursements, on the record of the 1st visit. Just get the dates of such correct, and QMEM will accurately report multiple monetary transactions over the multi-month period.
There's probably multiple ways to handle this, others will probably have differing ideas ... but your scenarios really aren't that complicated. For some of my wife's chemotherapy, I've had a payment plan going with the Medical Center - with multiple payments and multiple events - going on for well over a year now.
db
THINK IT THRU! Have you explained your issue so that someone who knows nothing about you, or YOUR Quicken setup, can understand what your issue is? Are you using standard Quicken terminology, particularly with respect to FILES, ACCOUNTS and CATEGORIES?
