Flex Spending Account

[kajero]

I need to empty my Flex Account before next Thursday. I bought new glasses and have submitted every medical expense I could. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can spend it down?

[Becky]

Contacts? Co-pays? (I'll take any excuse to see the chiropractor!) Doctor's prescription for a massage?

[luvmyguys]

Do you need prescription cycling glasses?

[Eden]

How much is left? You can spend a 100 or so by putting together a first aid box. I have one I take to races - it has band aids, gauze, sunscreen, ace bandages, ibuprofen, no stick pads, antibiotic cream, stuff like that (other things that might be good - instant cold pack, bug spray etc). As far as I know many of those things qualify for reimbursement. It's not a bad thing to have for your disaster kit too.

Hmmmmmm scratch that.... looks like OTC stuff is no longer covered unless you have a doctors prescription for it.....

[thekarens]

Dental work you've been putting off? Yes, I'm talking to myself :-)

[kajero]

Prescription cycling glasses . . will Pearle Vision know what they are?

[ny biker]

You need to check the list for what qualifies. I don't know if the rules are set by the government or if they vary by plan, but for my plan I can't claim most OTC medical supplies or drugs without an Rx from the doctor or a special medical need. For example sunscreen qualifies if you've had skin cancer but otherwise it doesn't. And I can't claim the OTC antihistamines the doctor recommends for me unless he writes me a prescription.

However I can claim non-prescription reading glasses. I have submitted claims for 6-8 pairs in the past couple of years. I have a pair here in the living room, one at work, one in my purse, a folding pair in my bike bag, another folding pair in the duffle bag where I keep my bike gear, etc. So if you need reading glasses, now's the time to stock up.

If that won't work, maybe another pair of eyeglasses, for a spare, or maybe prescription sunglasses.

I've been nearsighted for years and only recently started needed reading glasses, so I still wear contact lenses or eyeglasses for distance. Last year I used up my FSA with a pair of prescription titanium Ray-Bans. They are incredibly light, very nice frames.

[luvmyguys]

Prescription cycling glasses . . will Pearle Vision know what they are?

Is that the only place you can go? I went to a separate optometrist that sold Rudy Project glasses. But Pearle Vision might have some options.

[kajero]

I can go anywhere. the insurance won't pay for it. Fortunately, I have alreay used the insurance for a different pair.

I have arund $500 that I haven't contributed yet, but I am sure going to use!

How do I find an optometrist that sells the Rudy Project glasses?

[luvmyguys]

I went to the Rudy Project website and found one! there. That should get some nice glasses!

[ny biker]

Lenscrafters carry Oakleys, which would use up a chunk of the money you need to spend.

[shootingstar]

Wish I had that type of flex health spending account. We only get $300.00 annually with our employer's plan. I have to parse out amongst dental, specialized eye checkup or orthotics.

[thekarens]

Wish I had that type of flex health spending account. We only get $300.00 annually with our employer's plan. I have to parse out amongst dental, specialized eye checkup or orthotics.

Ours comes out of our own pocket, like a lot of plans, but it is tax free and rolls over from year to year so I always put in 1200 or so.

[Skippyak]

Do check what you can buy, some guy I heard of could buy his bike on his, also gym memberships, equipment etc, I am sure mine is not that flexi LOL.

[Irulan]

Do check what you can buy, some guy I heard of could buy his bike on his, also gym memberships, equipment etc, I am sure mine is not that flexi LOL.

Sounds like an audit would bust his *** too. Just because he did doesn't mean he could, legally.

[Eden]

What I just read said gym membership could be covered, but only if prescribed by a doctor as a treatment for an illness/disease. I suppose you could work a bike in there somehow - rehab for a knee or something?

[Irulan]

I've been using FSA and now HSA plans since they first came out. Anything is possible if you have accountants and lawyers who are sleazy enough and know how to work the system.....

See page 16. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p502.pdf IRS Publication 502 on allowable medical expenses.

"Health Club Dues
You cannot include in medical expenses health club dues or amounts paid to improve one's general health or to re- lieve physical or mental discomfort not related to a partic- ular medical condition."

[malkin]

Prescription sunglasses with interchangible lenses, and as many pairs of lenses as it takes to empty the account.

[Skippyak]

FOr sure, but if it is fitness equipment, and that is allowable, why not a bike? If people pay for treadmills they use to hang clothes on or gym memberships to places they never enter, why not?.

[Irulan]

...only with prescriptions. And it's a pretty sleazy doc that's going to write a prescription for fitness equipment.

[kajero]

you can only use the flex account for medical related things. You can't buy anything that you can't get a medical prescription or receipt for. Hospitalizations, therapies, prescriptions, co-pays, deductibles, crutches. . . that kind of stuff. No over the counter stuff, gym memberships, mileage to doctor's appointments, etc.

[thekarens]

That's not exactly true. I know ours specifically allows for supplies for a first aid kit, which is OTC.

Ours does not allow gym memberships, sports equipment, etc.

[Irulan]

The IRS publication (502, I posted the linke earlier) on HSA/FSA expenses is easy to read. It sounds like some of you should read it.
Mileage, page 15 specifically says you can use mileage.
OTC drugs are now excluded ( this changed is 2011, they did used to be an allowed expense) page 17
but you can still buy supplies like bandages, page 6

[OakLeaf]

...only with prescriptions. And it's a pretty sleazy doc that's going to write a prescription for fitness equipment.

If it is "primarily to alleviate or prevent a physical or mental defect or illness," as the IRS requires, why is that sleazy?

[Irulan]

Well, ok,.... maybe I'm being harsh but I'm thinking of the person who would be," hey, write me a scrip so I can buy a bike" vs someone who is chronically ill that needs/uses a treadmill for rehab.

[Skippyak]

...only with prescriptions. And it's a pretty sleazy doc that's going to write a prescription for fitness equipment.

That right, because their job is just to write out anti depressant prescriptions and refer to their fave bariatric guy. Define sleazy? Sunglasses are OK but a bike is not? It is a strange world for sure.

[Irulan]

Prescription sunglasses are well within IRS requirements, non-disputable. Bottom line is if your accountant approves of how you use you HSA funds, who am I to argue?

[Skippyak]

The real bottom line is that this is your money that you paid in, and unless TE is some kind of peculiar demographic, not many posters here will be taking that much of a tax benefit anyway. I would like to see tax benefits cut for excessive breeding and increased for healthcare spending and optimal education of (less) children, so who I am to argue indeed. Sacred cows are untouchable, right. Of course the real issue as we and Apple are cognizant of, is that pesky tax code, not the nuanced interpretation of said code by ones accountant or the media.

[Eden]

Sleazy.... I don't think a doc that writes a prescription for a bike should be called sleazy...... if more people could be encouraged to exercise regularly we'd have less illness in the first place...

If getting a bike and getting some exercise could alleviate someones typeII diabetes, obesity, mild depression, arthritis etc, I would find it far worse to not give the person the option to do it rather than simply medicating them....