Does anyone have a medical travel reimbursement plan?

[kdonnel]

I got an email that I needed to submit a receipt/EOB for a medical bill I paid with my FSA card. I logged into the FSA site and submitted the EOB and while there noticed that not only do I have the FSA account I expected but there is also a Travel Reimbursement Plan listed with a balance of $4000.

I can't find any mention of this benefit on the company benefits page. It is only listed in the site used to administer the FSA, HSA, and FSA Dependent Care accounts.

I Googled and found:
https://livelyme.com/blog/how-can-employees-pay-for-medical-transportation

Which talks about MTAs and HRAs.

I am thinking this is an HRA as all the HRA money is employer deposited money.

I wonder why my employer has not mentioned this benefit and what is eligible to claim? There is a PDF I was able to download from the FSA administration site that details things like Airfare, Ambulance, Bus, EV Charging, Ferry, Gas, Hotel and Lodging, Meals, Mileage, Parking, Tolls, and Trains as eligible expenses.

Here is what is listed for Airfare:

Coach airfare to and from the facility when the facility or a
comparable facility is not reasonably accessible by the member
(with reasonable access by air generally, but not exclusively, to
be determined by the facility or a comparable facility being
located 300 miles or more from the member’s residence).

So it would seem my regular visits to the doctor might not be an eligible expense but if I needed to travel to see a doctor, I could submit a claim.

I am going to find out who my HR contact is tomorrow and see if I can find out more about the plan and when I can use it but was wondering if anyone else had a similar benefit?

 

[eticketplease]

I’ve never heard of this before. I’m guessing it is for when you are vacationing far from home and an emergency happens?

You are allowed to be reimbursed for mileage to the doctor from your HSA at $0.22 a mile.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-23-03.pdf

 

[kdonnel]

I’ve never heard of this before. I’m guessing it is for when you are vacationing far from home and an emergency happens?

You are allowed to be reimbursed for mileage to the doctor from your HSA at $0.22 a mile.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-23-03.pdf

It specifically says it is not for reimbursement while traveling.

Instead it sounds like its for people who live remote or those that have to travel more than 50 miles to the doctor.

I have a cousin who lives in Alaska and has to travel to Seattle often for medical care. This would be really helpful for him.

Depending on the limitations it might not be useful at all for me.

Seems like a benefit that a company can advertise knowing it won’t really cost them much. Yet my company didn’t advertise it.

 

[clh2]

I don’t specifically recall, but I think my employer has some reimbursement if I needed to travel to a different state, due to state laws that would be less restrictive. Perhaps that is why they are referring to?

 

[eticketplease]

Yea that is probably it

It specifically says it is not for reimbursement while traveling.

Instead it sounds like its for people who live remote or those that have to travel more than 50 miles to the doctor.

I have a cousin who lives in Alaska and has to travel to Seattle often for medical care. This would be really helpful for him.

Depending on the limitations it might not be useful at all for me.

Seems like a benefit that a company can advertise knowing it won’t really cost them much. Yet my company didn’t advertise it.

Yes the Alaska to Seattle makes sense for that. As noted earlier your FSA/HSA is eligible for mileage but I never track mine as it such few miles for me. I do file for parking when going to the doctor though. You know for the appointments that they want you to show up early and then don’t call you back until 30 minutes after your scheduled appointment time….

 

[_19disnA]

Each company offers their own medical coverage, so you need to ask your HR people for clarification on how this works. My impression from the wording posted is this would relate to something like needing to travel to a medical facility in Chicago if you require some sort of specialized cancer treatment when you live in Arizona and that type of treatment is not available where you live. I wouldn't be surprised to find that many companies do not offer this benefit.

 

[tony67]

Talk to HR.

Are you sure you did not sign up for a travel plan?
With a 4k plan balance id assume you would notice the money being deducted.

I know we had a plan to pay for transit cards and such for commuting.
I think there was a tax benefit related to it since it meant you were not driving. I did not need it so I never really looked into it.

 

[kdonnel]

Talk to HR.

Are you sure you did not sign up for a travel plan?
With a 4k plan balance id assume you would notice the money being deducted.

I know we had a plan to pay for transit cards and such for commuting.
I think there was a tax benefit related to it since it meant you were not driving. I did not need it so I never really looked into it.

Still waiting to hear back from HR but this appears to be at not cost to me.

HRAs are solely funded by the employer and I think this is an HRA.

 

[tony67]

Still waiting to hear back from HR but this appears to be at not cost to me.

HRAs are solely funded by the employer and I think this is an HRA.

Yeah...when I worked in Health Insurance we had HRAs so we could get the very inexpensive plan and a well funded HRA.

That was before heath care "reform".

Id never heard of it but I guess "Medical Travel HRAs are employer-sponsored accounts through which employees can reimburse for eligible transportation expenses not covered by a major medical plan"

My guess its if you have to travel for treatment of a procedure that is in distant location. For example many people travel to Boston for treatment at the Children's Hospital, and its not cheap.