[GNC] Advice needed, how to handle a medical reimbursement account...

[John Ralls]

> On May 13, 2018, at 7:07 PM, randix <butterandsalt at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Thanks for your suggestion.
> 
> Unless I'm misunderstanding, what you propose would work fine if one was not
> interested in keeping track of the current balance(s) in the various MRA
> accounts.  I need to keep track of the balances, as I need to know which MRA
> account still has credit balances to which I can submit claims.
> 
> So, for example, using your suggestion...
> 
> 1. On January 1, 2018, I'm notified that I have received $1,000 which has
> been deposited in my XYZ MRA Account (keep in mind, these are not funds that
> have been actually sent to me, rather they have been deposited in an account
> set up in my name). I have an ASSET account in the name of XYZ MRA, so on
> January 1, 2018, when notified of the deposit, I make a "deposit" in that
> asset account in the amount of $1,000, and offset it with $1,000 in an
> income account titled MRA income (so I can keep track of MRA funds that have
> been credited to me in all MRA accounts).
> 
> 2. On January 5, 2018, I pay out of my checking account the sum of $100.00
> to Doctor 123, the offsetting entry is expense:health:medical
> 
> 3. Using your suggestion, on January 10, 2018 when I file a claim for
> reimbursement of the $100.00, I debit the ASSET XYZ MRA account, so it now
> has a balance of $900.00, and credit the $100.00 in my
> expense:health:medical account.  All good.
> 
> 4. *The issue is what happens when I actually receive the reimbursement in
> my checking account. *
> 
> 4.1 You said, "Receive reimbursement. Deposit into checking account. Debit
> checking, credit MRA". Not exactly clear what you meant, except that I get
> you want a credit to end up in the MRA account.  But doing so, will bring
> the balance of the MRA account back up to $1,000 when we know there's only
> $900 in there...if that account had a zero balance to start with, your
> debit/credit approach would work fine. But I need to have it track the
> balances.
> 
> Suggestion?  My head is starting to spin :)
> 

There’s an asymmetry in the account structure: Suppose that instead of a reimbursement scheme you had a bunch of MRA debit cards that you could pay your medical bills with directly.
What would be the “other” account in that case if not Expenses:Medical?

When you pay the doctor’s bill it’s money that the MRA owes you, so it’s not yet an expense. You need an asset account to collect that, we’ll call it Assets:Reimbursable:Medical. Paying the bill from your checking account is
    Assets:Current:Checking                        CR $100
    Assets:Reimbursable:Medical  DR $100

You also need an separate set of expense accounts to balance the MRA reimbursements, we’ll call that Expenses:MRA:Medical. Just for completeness let’s suppose that the MRA admins allow only $75 for this bill. The reimbursement transaction will look like:
    Assets:MRA                                             CR   $75
    Assets:Current:Checking         DR $75
    Assets:Reimbursable:Medical                   CR $100
    Expenses:MRA:Medical            DR  $75
    Expenses:Medical                    DR  $25


Regards,
John Ralls