Method and system for managing a flexible spending account

Abstract

A method and system for facilitating a redemption of a benefit provided by an organization for the purchase of non-prescription items from a retail store including associating a plurality of non-prescription items with a list; linking a plurality of members with the list, receiving a request for an account balance check of a member for one or more non-prescription items on the list that were presented for purchase by the member; determining if an account balance for the member has sufficient funds to cover the non-prescription items on the list that were presented for purchase by the member; and transmitting to the retail store an approval for the purchase by the member of the one or more non-prescription items on the list if the retrieved account balance for the member had sufficient funds to cover the non-prescription items on the list that were presented for purchase.

1 . A method in a computer system of facilitating a redemption of a benefit provided by an organization for the purchase of non-prescription items from a retail store comprising:
 associating a plurality of non-prescription items with a list;   linking a plurality of members with the list, each of the plurality of members having an identification code;   receiving from the retail store via a network an electronic request for an account balance check of one of the plurality of members for one or more non-prescription items on the list that were presented for purchase by the member at the retail store;   retrieving from a memory the account balance for the one of the plurality of members based on the one of the plurality of members' identification code;   determining if the retrieved account balance for the one of the plurality of members has sufficient funds to cover the non-prescription items on the list that were presented for purchase by the member at the retail store;   transmitting to the retail store via the network an approval for the purchase by the member of the one or more non-prescription items on the list if the retrieved account balance for the one of the plurality of members had sufficient funds to cover the non-prescription items on the list that were presented for purchase by the member;   transmitting to the retail store via the network a rejection for the purchase by the member of the one or more non-prescription items on the list if the retrieved account balance for the one of the plurality of members had insufficient funds to cover the non-prescription items on the list that were presented for purchase by the member; and   deducting the cost of the one or more non-prescription items on the list that were presented for purchase by the member from the retrieved account balance and generating a new account balance for the member when the purchase at the retail store was approved, wherein the new account balance is the difference between the retrieved account balance and the total of the non-prescription items on the list that were presented for purchase by the member.   
     
     
         2 . A method of facilitating a redemption of a benefit provided by an organization for the purchase of non-prescription items from a retail store comprising:
 associating a first plurality of non-prescription items with a first approved list;   associating a second plurality of non-prescription items with a second approved list;
 wherein at least a portion of the first plurality of non-prescription items is the same as a portion of the second plurality of non-prescription items; 
   associating a first plurality of customers with the first approved list, each of the first plurality of customers having an identification code;   associating a second plurality of customers with the second approved list, each of the second plurality of customers having an identification code;   receiving from the retail store via a network an electronic request for an account balance check of one of the first plurality of members for one or more non-prescription items on the first approved list that were presented for purchase by the one of the first plurality of members at the retail store;   retrieving from a memory the account balance for the one of the first plurality of members based on the one of the first plurality of members' identification code;   determining if the retrieved account balance for the one of the first plurality of members has sufficient funds to cover the non-prescription items on the first approved list that were presented for purchase by the one of the first plurality of members at the retail store;   transmitting to the retail store via the network an approval for the purchase by the one of the first plurality of members of the one or more non-prescription items on the first approved list if the retrieved account balance for the one of the first plurality of members had sufficient funds to cover the non-prescription items on the first approved list that were presented for purchase by the one of the first plurality of members;   transmitting to the retail store via the network a rejection for the purchase by the one of the first plurality of members of the one or more non-prescription items on the first approved list if the retrieved account balance for the one of the first plurality of members had insufficient funds to cover the non-prescription items on the first approved list that were presented for purchase by the one of the first plurality of members; and   deducting the cost of the one or more non-prescription items on the first approved list that were presented for purchase by the one of the first plurality of members from the retrieved account balance and generating a new account balance for the one of the first plurality of members when the purchase at the retail store was approved, wherein the new account balance is the difference between the retrieved account balance and the total of the non-prescription items on the first approved list that were presented for purchase by the one of the first plurality of members.