This is where the rubber meets the road

Well, that time of year has rolled around again, Open Enrollment for insurance.  For me, this means choosing my insurance coverage (EPO, PPO, etc.) and opting to have a Flexible Spending Account.  The only reason I would opt for the FSA account for 2012 is for all things surgery-related, otherwise I wouldn't have the need for the FSA account.  Either I really believe without a doubt that I will be lucky enough to have surgery, or I'll have quite a bit of money to burn on Advil and Band-Aids at the end of 2012.  It's a big decision for me that I must make blindly since I won't be finished with the insurance-required items until the end of this year, which means there's no way of knowing if I will be approved for surgery until AFTER my decision to have an FSA account has already been decided.

That is a really hard position to be in! I hope it works out for you!

Can you do an HSA?  I believe the money in an HSA rolls over from year to year, whereas the FSA you have to use up by the end of the year.

Do be careful about the FSA. They've changed the rules on over the counter stuff. I take two over the counter medications that used to be prescription and no longer can use my FSA.

Do you think you'll have enough medical expenses IF you get the surgery to take a tax deduction (7% of income, I think?) If so, you don't need the FSA so much: FSA just uses before tax dollars instead of after tax dollars to meet the expenses. If you can deduct, it's the same net effect.

Good luck on your approval!

You may still be able to use your FSA on otc medications, IF your doctor will write an Rx for them.  That's how mine works, anyway.  It's a fiddle, but totally worth it in the long run, IMHO.

There's always LASIK surgery...a breast reduction procedure...

True, Sue.  I could get LASIK.  Have you had that done? Know anyone who has?

Spent most of my life blind as a bat.  Then I decided on radial keratotomy.  Don't do that.  Whan THAT screwed up my left eye (and made that eye farsighted while the other one was nearsighted.)  

So then I had LASIK to make the remaining nearsighted eye normal.  The we used LASIK to try to fix the screwed up eye and it lasted for a while, but then it "floated" back to the wrong Rx.

Eventurally, I got old enough that there was enough of a cataract forming in the left eye...the bad one--that in combination with the screwed up radial keratotomy, I was a candidate for lens replacement.  So now I see well again, for the fist time in ten years or so.  I can actually thread a needle!

Short answer...for me, LASIK good, RK bad.  I knew I could find my way out of an earthquaked building without first having to find my glasses. 

I got LASIK 4 or 5 years ago.  Still thrilled to bits by it.

I'm so impressionable, you guys already have me convinced to go for LASIK if the surgery plan falls to bits, well almost.  What does it cost nowadays, 4-5 grand? It would be so weird not needing my glasses.  I'm curious how it's done, I'm guessing you are awake for the procedure?