|
|
|
|
|
Technology Bytes
by Francine Brokaw
Quicken Medical Expense Manager
Face it. The medical profession isn’t what it used to be. Today we’re concerned about HMOs, PPOs, and insurance payments. What happened to the good old days when we could just go to a doctor, get treated, and not worry if our insurance would cover the visit? And forget about prescriptions. These days they are harder to manage than doctor visits. It’s a mess when it comes to keeping track of our medical bills, insurance bills, and our medical history. This new software takes some of the sting out of it. Finally there is a program that is easy to use and keeps track of what we owe, what we’ve paid, and everything else.
The software does require you to input your information, but that’s not difficult. In a glance you can view your entire family’s medical expense log or just one person’s. Plus, you can even keep track of your pet’s medical history and expenses. If you have a pet you know that they cost as much as a person when it comes to their health care.
Not only does this program keep track of your medical bills, history, medical providers and insurance, there is even a place for mileage to and from your appointment and a place to keep track of parking costs. All this data is important when tax season comes around! Did you know that many medical expenses are tax deductible? The software includes a Tax Deductions Report so when it’s time to fill out your tax forms or take your records to your accountant, you can instantly see how much money you’ve spent on medical expenses to determine whether you are eligible for a deduction.
You know those EOBs (Explanation of Benefits) you receive from your insurance company? They can sometimes be hard to understand. With this software you simply input the amount the insurance paid and the amount you are responsible for and then you’ll have an easy-to-read log of all your expenses. There is a handy little graph that plots your deductibles and out of pocket expenses so you can see at a glance how much you’ve paid and what remains.
The Medical Expense Manager can even remind you about a scheduled appointment or to refill a prescription. That’s so much easier than finding out you have only one more day’s worth of your medicine and the pharmacy is closed. And instead of keeping business cards for each of your doctors and pharmacies scattered in a drawer, you can keep all of their contact information in one place for easy access.
Whether you are on Medicare or have private insurance or even none at all, this program is important for keeping track of all your household medical expenses. It is a Medical Expense Manager, however it does much more than simply manage your expenses. It is a complete medical manager. With just a few clicks of your mouse you can access your medical history including doctor visits, prescriptions, and expenses. Families especially will benefit from this as keeping track of everyone can be confusing. Well, this takes away the confusion so you can see exactly each person’s medical records through the year. And don’t forget the handy appointment and prescription reminder.
For Windows PCs, the Quicken Medical Expense Manager 2.0 keeps all your records at your fingertips. With a $20 introductory discount, the program is currently $49.99. For more information go to their website.
© 2006 Francine Brokaw
Let's Talk About It!
Issues newsgroup
Join us to talk about this article!
|
|
|
