Somebody getting started with MEM asked some questions, which I'll reply to here in case the answers help others, and in case other people want to chime in...

• Questions: I want the product for tax purposes, but while it handles that it seems to be more centered on managing insurance co-pays and disputes?? As I enter data there seems to be something particular about drugs where there is a required sub-category for the kind of drug. What if you start in the middle of the year like I am?? Do you really need to know which drug. It says RX, but would that also be used for non rx drugs like niacin, multivitamin, etc. Why is that necessary - tax law, insurance practice? etc. For trips to the Mayo Clinic that involve air, hotel, etc. Can it be entered as one trip entry or do we need each restaurant and hotel to be a provider. Why? When do you run the OOP report and what does it do for me?

My response:

The short answer is that the product was designed to be very flexible, because people have a huge variety of medical expense issues -- as well as levels of interest in tracking them. If you want to go into depth tracking something, you probably can... but you also can stay at a high level for those things that don't have as much interest for you.

I hope these questions are mainly consternation due to being faced with a new product. At first glance MEM might seem harder than it actually is -- it's designed to permit flexibility to support the level of detail that you want, without forcing you to track things you don't want to.





Answering specific questions: The product handles tracking for tax-deduction purposes as well as managing copays and disputes and many other areas. I expect people use the areas that are relevant to their own situation and their own level of interest. Because of this, MEM has only the Quick Reference Guide as printed materials, because people are going to need to bring some of their own knowledge about their own situation to bear, to see how they want to use MEM.





Many people like to track their different drugs so they can, at a glance, see how much they've spent for Drug X or get a history of how long they've been taking Drug Y. However, there is no reason that you have to do this at this level of detail. If you like, just put "Drugs" or "Tax-deductible drugs" as the sub-category, or whatever else makes sense to you and your situation. It can certainly be used for non-prescription drugs. If in the Expense Details area you note that something is Tax Deductible, it will be included in that report too.

Expenses can be included whether or not insurance covers them.

Medically tax-deductible trip costs can be put under "Mileage", or if you prefer, can be listed out as separate expense items. There's no need to enter every restaurant and hotel as a separate provider -- this isn't Quicken, after all, it's for managing medical expenses. Trip expenses are of interest only to the level of detail that applys to a medical-expense issue such as tax deductions. (At the same time, if you want to enter a great level of detail, I guess you can.)





The OOP Report (actually Deductibles and Out-Of-Pocket Maximum report) shows where you stand against the deductibles and OOP Max for each insurer, for the expenses that you've entered into MEM.





Hope this helps! I also recommend checking out the in-product help, and looking around in these forums (!) to see what other people have said on a topic.





Also, there's an in-product set of video demonstrations (click on Help, then View Demos) that help show how MEM can be used.

Regards,

Bruce

Excellent comment about choosing you own level of detail, Bruce. The more I use the program, the more I appreciate the built-in flexibility.

For example, I now keep full details on drugs Rx:drug1, Rx:drug2, etc. because it is an easy option in MEM and useful information. Most drugs repeat month to month so duplicating an entry and changing the date is easy. Prior to MEM my only tracking was in Quicken Financial but not in detail. One trip to the pharmacy for multiple Rx was one payment and one Quicken entry flagged as tax deductible.

In another example, I don't have the need to track travel costs in detail so there is only one entry related to travel costs (other than mileage). If a minor breakout is needed I use the Medical Notes or Billing Notes tabs.

And one more example. Laboratory work frequently involves several different tests that might be listed on an EOB. I typically record the total lab work event and not the individual test involved.

MEM typically provides the flexibility to make it work your way. The trick is to determine your specific needs. :8}

MEM typically provides the flexibility to make it work your way. The trick is to determine your specific needs.

Agreed that is the "trick" -- I started out similar to Wayward by entering Occasions with multiple services as 1 entry with the appropriate details on the medical notes. Figured that would suffice. With Insurance nitpicking, some parts of the bill would get pd in full, others partially & others not at all. So I had to change my method to break apart all services and now enter everything separately at the start. When available, I even now enter the CPT code instead of the more user common language we use. Note: at this time, I go into this level of detail only for our eldest daughter not for all 4 of us & certainly not the dog who is getting his annaul check up/shots tomorrow!:)

Barrie

--
bifrap

www.familialdysautonomia.org

www.keshet.org

Bruce:

How can I obtain a pdf of the complete help file?

Mark