I just started using this program and already I'm stumped. I hope somebody can help before I go too far wrong.
I am trying to enter my prescription expenses and I can't figure out whether my insurance has paid the pharmacy (and therefore I should enter the amount in the "Insurance Payments" field in Expense Details) or whether there has been a "Provider Write-Off" (and therefore I should enter the amount in the "Provider Write-Off" field.
My receipts from Walgreens say the cost of the drug is $32.49, "your insurance saved you $22.49." I wind up paying $10 for all my prescriptions after meeting a calendar-year $250 deduction. This is a Blue Shield PPO.
Re: How to enter prescription expenses Aug 12, 2006 09:52 am
My receipts from Walgreens say the cost of the drug
is $32.49, "your insurance saved you $22.49." I wind
up paying $10 for all my prescriptions after meeting
a calendar-year $250 deduction. This is a Blue Shield
PPO.
I'd just record the $10 as the price of the drug. Unless you REALLY need/care to track the $22.49 that your insurance paid. I haven't seen a provider write-off at a pharmacy.
The "Provider Write-off" is usually used for thing like:
a) My hypertension specialist bills my insurance $149,
b) My insurance discounts the amount to $116.10 (a "Provider Write-off" of $32.90)
c) Either I pay the $116.10 (if I haven't met my YTD out of pocket max), or the insurance does ... in either case, when I receive the EOB, I make and record the appropriate payments.
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?
Re: How to enter prescription expenses Aug 12, 2006 10:18 pm
tessgold wrote:
I just started using this program and already I'm
stumped. I hope somebody can help before I go too far
wrong.
I am trying to enter my prescription expenses and I
can't figure out whether my insurance has paid the
pharmacy (and therefore I should enter the amount in
the "Insurance Payments" field in Expense Details) or
whether there has been a "Provider Write-Off" (and
therefore I should enter the amount in the "Provider
Write-Off" field.
My receipts from Walgreens say the cost of the drug
is $32.49, "your insurance saved you $22.49." I wind
up paying $10 for all my prescriptions after meeting
a calendar-year $250 deduction. This is a Blue Shield
PPO.
Help? Please?
Welcome, tessgold. Good question.
As dbAnalyst indicated, some folks just want to track their out of pocket expense and not worry about entering the actual drug cost.
My drug plan is Medicare Part D and I need to track both total drug costs and the portion I pay. With Medicare Part D, total drug costs are used to determine progressive levels of insurance coverage.
In your example, I would enter the receipt this way ...
32.49 as Amount Billed and Amount Allowed
22.49 as the Insurance Payment
10.00 as My Payment
Things vary a lot from drug plan to drug plan and MEM is very flexible. The bottom line is to determine the level of detail you need to track and forge onward. My basic goal is to keep it as simple as possible. :-)
Re: How to enter prescription expenses Aug 13, 2006 03:41 am
Thank you both for the quick answers.
dbAnalyst, I think I am going to follow Wayward's method. I don't have group insurance coverage and may have to switch to another insurance company at some point. I remember when I applied for this policy how difficult it was to figure out what my expenses were and what kind of coverage I needed to apply for, so I want to record as much detail as possible, even though it is a major pain in the butt.
