Can I use HSA to buy sunscreen?

[LisaR]

I just asked DH if he has an HSA option. He claims he does but there is some stipulation that the HSA must be used before the FSA money can be used. He also said the HSA can only be used for medical (not RX, dental, contacts, etc). After reading what everyone else has posted, I am starting to think he misunderstood. Has anyone ever heard of a HSA working the way DH mentioned?

 

[Nancy]

I just asked DH if he has an HSA option. He claims he does but there is some stipulation that the HSA must be used before the FSA money can be used. He also said the HSA can only be used for medical (not RX, dental, contacts, etc). After reading what everyone else has posted, I am starting to think he misunderstood. Has anyone ever heard of a HSA working the way DH mentioned?

Not sure, I know employers can put stipulations on the accts. With mine if you have both we do a limited purpose FSA which means it can only be used for dental and vision. No restrictions on which acct has to be used first. It just made more sense for us to do strictly HSA now.


I also went into the website for the company (part of my employer) that is the bank for the HSAacct and here is what it says for premiums:

Any otherwise unreimbursed
expenses as defi ned under
§213(d) of IRC, except amounts
distributed to pay health
insurance premiums. Premiums
are allowable for: any health
insurance (other than a
Medicare supplement policy)
for a person age 65 or older,
COBRA, long-term care, and
health care while receiving
unemployment compensation

so it will pay for premiums with restrictions...this is something we were not told in training and I am bringing this to someone's attention tomorrow. I do not work for the actual banking portion but I do get people calling for information on HSA's and it irritates me that we were not told this and I could be giving out incorrect information to people

 

[bumbershoot]

...but vitamins and supplements are no without a letter of medical necessity from a doctor.

And no matter what has been covered in the past, check each time (or at least when the year changes or your plan year changes), b/c they change. Vitamins were allowed a year with our Flex Plan or so ago; we used to buy our Emergen-C with it, b/c that IS how we treat colds and such. We don't use cough medicines or things like that, we do use vitamins, and it was wonderful that they allowed vitamins, and it's no end of annoyance that they don't now.


I just looked up on wageworks with our Flex plan, and SPF over 30 are indeed allowed. Very cool, I would never have thought that!



And with HSAs, they can vary. We are done with the High Deductible plans now (our first time, DS fell and got a trip to the ER, using more than our HSA funds the first full day we were covered with it, then no one else needed the doctor the rest of the year so we never got "into" our post-deductible insurance very far), and the next year hubby was diagnosed with diabetes so he had some appointments BUT he doesn't need any medicines (unless of course the cinnamon supplements he takes were covered, but they aren't) so this last year we didn't even hit the deductible. NO MORE! But anyway, our plan was called an HRA, his employer funded it in the amount of havl of the high deductible, and we funded the rest in our Flex plan (FSAs aren't allowed with normal HSAs, at least not at his company).

So always check with your own plan.

 

[kaytieeldr]

As far as saving it year to year, ours is funded by my employer, and what we don't use at the end of the year goes back to them. Most employees can be found at Rite Aid at the end of the year stocking up on bandaids, Tylenol, etc

Yep - I was in CVS on New Year's Eve, around 8:30, stocking up

I know Walgreens prints a little "F" next to the item if it's eligible, but then again they claim a $.99 bottle of hand sanitizer is eligible and that doesn't seem right to me? Or maybe it is.

Since some time last fall, yep!

 

[golfgal]

I've never even heard of an HSA account, and I read my benefit package through cover to cover every year. Maybe we don't have one? I'll have to check tomorrow when I can get to the whole website, they don't allow us full access from home computers, only work ones. I know what I'll be doing when I have my morning tea!

You have to have a qualifying high deductible health plan to get one. There are plans with high deductibles that DON'T qualify for an HSA. If you don't have a qualifying high deductible plan, you won't have access to an HSA.

I just asked DH if he has an HSA option. He claims he does but there is some stipulation that the HSA must be used before the FSA money can be used. He also said the HSA can only be used for medical (not RX, dental, contacts, etc). After reading what everyone else has posted, I am starting to think he misunderstood. Has anyone ever heard of a HSA working the way DH mentioned?

I think you are right that he misunderstood. First, you wouldn't need to do a FSA with an HSA but you can. HSA's can most certainly be used for any qualified medical expense-which is maybe where the confusion lies because it says "medical" but you can use it for dental, contacts, etc. The HSA plan is a federal plan, not something a company decides and a company can't dictate what you put in our use on your account. They have zero responsibility for the bookkeeping on the account--you get and HSA account at your bank, not at work like you do for a FSA.

 

[golfgal]

And with HSAs, they can vary. We are done with the High Deductible plans now (our first time, DS fell and got a trip to the ER, using more than our HSA funds the first full day we were covered with it, then no one else needed the doctor the rest of the year so we never got "into" our post-deductible insurance very far), and the next year hubby was diagnosed with diabetes so he had some appointments BUT he doesn't need any medicines (unless of course the cinnamon supplements he takes were covered, but they aren't) so this last year we didn't even hit the deductible. NO MORE! But anyway, our plan was called an HRA, his employer funded it in the amount of havl of the high deductible, and we funded the rest in our Flex plan (FSAs aren't allowed with normal HSAs, at least not at his company).

So always check with your own plan.

Typically high deductible plan premiums are less expensive then traditional plans so if you didn't spend enough to meet your deductible you are probably going to pay more out of pocket for your premiums then you did for the high deductible plan, thus costing more then the HD plan to start.

 

[laurie31]

I just asked DH if he has an HSA option. He claims he does but there is some stipulation that the HSA must be used before the FSA money can be used. He also said the HSA can only be used for medical (not RX, dental, contacts, etc). After reading what everyone else has posted, I am starting to think he misunderstood. Has anyone ever heard of a HSA working the way DH mentioned?

Ours is EXACTLY like this. Our HSA is for medical only. We have a separate FSA for dental and eye stuff. It's the way the insurance at my job is. I don't know about the "using HSA before FSA" for medical, but I guess if you ran out of HSA money, we could use the FSA, but we put lots into the HSA (because it rolls over) and just what we're SURE we'll use into FSAso we'd never get to that point. Although with both DDs in braces and all 4 of us in contacts, there's still a big chunk of change in the FSA.

And I hate our new high deductible insurance so far. DD10 had to go to the ER in January and they didn't want us to pay anything then, because they didn't know what the bill would be. We have to pay the whole amount, but NOT the "real" whole amount of $1400 (that I suppose an uninsured person would have to pay ) but the amount that insurance would accept, since our plan is Blue Cross. So *finally* we got the bill of $760. Which is still a lot, but better than $1400.

More complicated is that DD12 started the Gardasil series last year (with our old insurance - $20 co-pay) and has the third booster remaining. No one can figure out how it's to be billed, since the series *started* at her well visit last year. We're thinking we may have to wait until her well visit this year for it.

Speaking of all this, I seriously need to fill out some reimbursement forms! Along with that ED visit, I've got about $600 in orthodontics to claim.