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Where should medical explanation of benefits be filed?
BACKGROUND
When you receive medical treatment and if you have medical insurance then your health care provider will first bill your insurance company. The insurance company will send an explanation of benefits showing what costs are covered, and which are not. The explanation of benefits is sent to you and a copy is sent to your health care provider along with partial payment. Upon receiving the payment from your insurance company, the health care provider then sends you a bill for the remaining balance.
WHERE TO FILE
An explanation of benefits receipt may be filed into FreedomFiler ACTIVE files until reconciled with the health care provider's final bill.
I. Several pre-printed ACTIVE labels are provided in the Deluxe Home Filing Kit for keeping un-reconciled explanations of benefits. You may use either "Reconcile", "Waiting For Response", or "Bills To Pay", according to preference.
OR
II. Make a custom tab, e.g. "Medical EOB " (ACTIVE gray tab)
OR
III. If you manage a high volume of medical treatment papers regularly, then consider filing by date, into a month rotation system. Use either a 3, 6,12 month rotation according to preference - see example below.*
HEADER: Medical EOB ->
Medical Jan, Jul
Medical Feb, Aug
Medical Mar, Sep
Medical Apr, Oct
Medical May, Nov
Medical Jun, Dec
(six-folder example above using ACTIVE gray tabs - you may use 12 folders for simplicity, or join two months together on the same folder for compactness)
*filing by date lets you locate the medical event by date (doctor names can change with referrals/specialists etc...)
AFTER matching the EOB to the final bill and payment is made, file payment receipts only into "Medical Expenses" (TAX). Of course actual prescriptions, evaluations, or lab results belong in "Medical Records [Name]" (PERMANENT), if not kept by the doctor.
*NOTE: While FreedomFiler® provides a method of automatic purging which eliminates the need
to review files, you must ultimately decide which documents are kept two years, ten years, or indefinitely.
FreedomFiler® is not liable under any circumstances for claims of loss or damage arising from suggested
document retention guidelines. Consult a professional advisor to determine your specific document
retention needs and adapt your system accordingly.
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