kcrauder said:

Can anyone tell me if there is a way to hide the

medical files from say 2005? I dont want to have to

scroll through hundreds of pages to get to the

current or even have them on the screen? Is there a

way to hide them or something? Thanks.

Welcome to the forum, kcrauder.

This is an interesting question. There is a hide feature included with the various List items and, of course, the reports can discriminate by date. I'm not aware of (or haven't found) a hide feature to hide entries on the basic Expense Log. ?:|

Since scrolling can be a little awkward in the Expense Log, I typically run a report or do a Find search and then do serious scrolling there. You can double click on a report line item or a Find line item to reach the Details screen for review or editing.

Wayward

Can anyone tell me if there is a way to hide the

medical files from say 2005? I dont want to have to

scroll through hundreds of pages to get to the

current or even have them on the screen? Is there a

way to hide them or something? Thanks.

Not in version 1.

If you are actually running version 2, then please update your profile. And, near the top of the expense log there is a "From" and "To" date. Change the "From" date to '1/1/2006' <or whatever date you want> and click the "Update" button. You'll have to change the date filtering option for each person individually.

-Tony

The "from to" date suggestion is a very good one. I did not enter data on MEM in 2005, so all I have is 2006 data. Since the deductibles apply to the current year, and sometimes change from one year to the next, I plan to do something akin to what Quicken does, i.e. create a new file for the next year with the year's number in the file name.

I've not seen a procedure in MEM to do that, so I'll probably copy the 2006 file, call it MEM07, to keep my lists, and delete the previous year's transactions.

Incidentally, does Intuit have a way to "close" a year, as it does in QUicken?

Fernando

The "from to" date suggestion is a very good one. I

did not enter data on MEM in 2005, so all I have is

2006 data. Since the deductibles apply to the current

year, and sometimes change from one year to the next,

Deductibles and OOP Max values apply to the current plan period for the associated insurance. At the beginning of your new plan year, you go into your insurer's "Deductibles/OOP Max" tab, select <New Plan Period> from the Plan Period drop down box, input the new dates for the new period and put in the new values. There is no need to create a new file just for this.

I plan to do something akin to what Quicken does,

i.e. create a new file for the next year with the

year's number in the file name.

I'd not recommend this for the same reasons the most knowledgeable responders in the Quicken fora do not recommend doing it for Quicken. It is, however, your file so do as you will.

I've not seen a procedure in MEM to do that, so I'll

probably copy the 2006 file, call it MEM07, to keep

my lists, and delete the previous year's

transactions.

This is the only way I know of to do what you'd like. Of course, as has been discussed, you have no choice about keeping your lists. ;-)

Incidentally, does Intuit have a way to "close" a

year, as it does in QUicken?

Fernando

If you mean a "year-end copy" then no.

-Tony

Hi Fernando, and welcome. Tony and Wayward, thanks for answering this, well.

Fernando, you can save a file as different names if you really want to (in MEM, click on the File menu, then Backup... or for that matter, you could go into the /My Medical Manager directory on your computer and copy the file there).

Can you help me understand the benefit of saving data as different years?

A number of people have commented in these forums (er, fora) that they appreciate having multiple years' worth of information in MEM, that they can use and filter (using e.g. the Cost Calculator) or print out for sharing or reference or filekeeping (using e.g. the Patient History).

And I believe there's no normal downside to having multiple years of data in MEM.

In every part of MEM, you can limit what you're viewing by date.

So the Expense Log can show whatever date information you want, e.g. just the current year's. (In fact, we recommend limiting this information in the Expense Log, to speed uploading and scrolling, which can be sluggish otherwise.)

The Find feature lets you pick the date range in which you want to find things.

The Deductibles is set up for whatever is the appropriate date. Yes, insurers' deductibles often change from year to year (!), which is why the deductible explicitly shows the period you're looking at.

Have I missed anything?

OK, for privacy reasons you might want to limit the information you're giving e.g. your new spouse access to? You can delete any expenses from MEM if you really want to.

Or maybe for a sense of finality, you like saving a year's worth of information in a specific location -- though I'm not sure it's worth removing that data from MEM?

As Tony and Wayward remarked, it's yours to do what you want with! :-) Both the program and your information.

Thanks... and again, welcome!

Regards,

Bruce

After playing around with several options to hide a selected data date range, the suggestion by apwilhelm to simply set a date range in the expense log is very effective. It's a "sticky" selection so it's effective in hiding a year or more of data.

I generally agree that keeping all data available can be an advantage. You never know when a little backwards research might be useful. Personally, I think full data will be critical in evaluating prescription cost trends for Medicare Part D decisions year to year.

Wayward