(no subject)

[badstar]

Hmmm...so if I set up one of those flexible spending account things with work to pay for laser surgery, a high end estimate is that it will require $70/paycheck.

However, the reduction in taxable income will reduce my net pay by less than $40/check. However...I can't set it up til April if I want to actually be able to cover the surgery with it because of when the plan year renews. Though, the full amount of the yearly contribution is available for use up front (I'd just be screwed if I were to leave the job.)

Wow. So I was seriously thinking about getting contact lenses after the holidays. I need to find out if I can really do this, medical-wise...but if it were possible to have the surgery only six months or something like that down the road, it seems like it would be pointless to spend the money on contacts.

However, I can also use this to pay for a monthly transit pass pre-tax...so I'm looking at setting it up awhile to account for that and modifying accordingly come April.

Comments

[luciaofthegrove.livejournal.com]

*nod* if I were able to afford laser surgery I would do it too. I am near sighted enough that technically I should be wearing them all the time but especially when driving. I rarely wear them just because I hate wearing glasses. They are one of the most annoying and uncomfortable things created (at least in my opinion).

If you are certain you are getting the laser done it might be more prudent to not do the contacts and save yourself the extra expense that will be obsolute once your eyes are corrected :)

[fuego.livejournal.com]

They hve to do some additional testing beyond the normal eye doctor stuff, but at the appointment I had the other week, the doctor did say that from what he can see, I look like an ideal candidate for surgery...but of course, I have to do the full screening for the more thorough testing (thankfully, they don't charge for that.) So I might look into doing that some Friday in December, or January. If I find out for sure that I can do the surgery, it would be silly to get contacts.

[sleepingwolf.livejournal.com]

Two things that pop up in my mind:

1. My recollection is that such a plan can also be used to pay for contacts more cheaply.

2. I also thought the surgery wasn't permanent in its effects, either.

[fuego.livejournal.com]

I guess you could say that technically, no the surgery isn't permanent, but it's more in the sense that most people's vision does degrade to an extent when they get older- though from what I understand, in general, people are far more prone to going far-sighted than near-sighted. In many cases, this is minor enough to be helped with reading glasses that you can get at the drug store. I'm 29. If I had the surgery next year, and twenty or thirty years or more down the road, I started going farsighted, I wouldn't be complaining about the surgery.

There is also the fact that sometimes the first procedure starts to reverse, or didn't quite completely fix things and it has to be done again. The national average for do-overs is somewhere in the neighborhood of 15% and many places will guarantee the surgery, and not charge you if it has to be redone at anytime in your life (often there are certain conditions, like you must have visited your regular eye doctor at least once a year in the meantime.) A large chunk of the reason that they do the pre-screenings is, aside from determining if it will actually help, is to reduce the possibility of having to perform the surgery again and eat the cost. So, for example, one of the required conditions is having a stable prescription for at least a year before having the surgery.