Flex

So, at some point last year during K’s open enrollment for his health benefits, we decided to sign up for his Flex Plan.  Even though I work in the health benefits industry, we had not done this before because K was hesitant about it.  Of course, I understand the hesitation.  In case you are unaware, the premise behind the Flex account is that you are able to put pre-tax funds aside for qualified medical expenses, however, the account is use-it-or-loose-it.  The money goes to the employer if we don’t spend it all. 

At the time we decided to enroll, we had just completed an unsuccessful IVF and an failed attempt at a FET.  Even though we were both exhausted with the process, we both fully believed that we were going to have some kind of major medical expenses relating to fertility in 2007.  Here we are, today, November 11, 2007, and we have only used about 1/8 of the funds we have set aside. 

We decided that we needed to find a way to use the funds.  So, we started running through the list of things that we could spend the money on.  And in the process, we realized that it has been three years since we visited the eye doctor.  So, yesterday, we spent the better part of our saturday at the optomotrist’s office & then LensCrafters.  We came home with oodles of glasses.  While I don’t have any major problems with being able to see, my vision is getting worse with sitting in front of the computer longer and longer.  So, I got computer glasses as well as distance glasses (for tv & movies & long drives).  The distance ones are because of my astigmatism (which they just diagnosed yesterday).

K got a new pair too.  Plus, we both got sunglasses as well.  So, that’s 4 pairs of glasses & one set of lenses (replaced into my old reading frames).  And we have now spent half of our flex money.  Two months to go.