Money Fix: Health, tax deadlines ahead

Get out your calendar -- be it digital or paper-based -- and make sure you have marked some important upcoming dates, deadlines affecting your finances that you or family members might not want to miss.

Monday, Feb. 14. Besides being the big day for chocolates and roses, it's also the last day Medicare users have to "disenroll" from Medicare Advantage plans, which are private health plans that supplement Original Medicare for such out-of-pocket costs as deductibles and co-insurance.

According to the Medicare Rights Center, a nonprofit consumer service organization in Manhattan, most people won't be able to make a change to their health coverage again until open enrollment in the fall, starting Oct. 15. Learn more at Medicare.gov and Medicare rights.org under press releases.

Tuesday, March 15. Many employees have until the Ides of March to incur health expenses eligible for reimbursement from their flexible spending accounts. Those are the "use it or lose it" accounts in which workers save pretax dollars, which must be used by a certain date. Some employers' plans set a year-end deadline, but others give a grace period until March 15, says Lisa Hannan of Manhasset, vice president with WageWorks, a benefits services provider based in San Mateo, Calif.

Monday, April 18. This year we get a three-day grace period for the date we have with Uncle Sam to post or e-mail our 2010 tax returns. The deadline was bumped from April 15, because this year Emancipation Day, marking the day Abraham Lincoln signed the act ending slavery in the District of Columbia, is to be celebrated that day. By law, both federal and District of Columbia holidays can affect the regular tax filing deadline.