FSA question

[ruadisneyfan2]

Back in January, both kids got braces. We had to put down say $1200 then make payments for 24 months, interest free. We have dedicated 100% of our FSA to making these payments. Our orthodontist uses a payment company & they bill the cc associated with our FSA, dh & I each have one. So it's been a few months and it's working great.

So now I'm thinking, what happens for 2014? Can we keep making monthly payments? Would that be considered a claim from 2013?

Has anyone done this? We still have 20 payments to go, last one being in Jan 2015.

 

[mistysue]

With our FSA it doesn't matter when we pay, what matters is the service date. In that case I think the only person who can answer this is the person who does the billing at the office. If their service date lists 2013 I would expect it to get turned down. If they can list a current service date it may pass. If you have it available in your FSA this year or you have any amount left over I would try to get them to bill for whatever your balance available for the year is.

 

[pryncess527]

With our FSA it doesn't matter when we pay, what matters is the service date. In that case I think the only person who can answer this is the person who does the billing at the office. If their service date lists 2013 I would expect it to get turned down. If they can list a current service date it may pass. If you have it available in your FSA this year or you have any amount left over I would try to get them to bill for whatever your balance available for the year is.

I was going to say this, but then I found something online which indicates orthodontic services are treated differently. But even after reading this 5 times, I still can't figure out the answer to your question.

https://www.fsafeds.com/forms/QRGOrtho.pdf

http://benefits.northropgrumman.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/FSAs Conexis/CONEXIS_Health_FSA_FAQs.pdf

You might try calling the orthodontist to see if they can shed some light . . .

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

There won't be any left over this year but I'll ask the office manager. There will be some leftover in 2014 but we could easily use that up with copays.

I don't know exactly how they bill our insurance. Our visits are every 6 weeks but that doesn't mean it wasn't all billed up front.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I made one payment per year at the beginning of the year for 3 years. I had no problem getting the money out of my FSA for this.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I was going to say this, but then I found something online which indicates orthodontic services are treated differently. But even after reading this 5 times, I still can't figure out the answer to your question.

https://www.fsafeds.com/forms/QRGOrtho.pdf

http://benefits.northropgrumman.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/FSAs Conexis/CONEXIS_Health_FSA_FAQs.pdf

You might try calling the orthodontist to see if they can shed some light . . .

It sounds like in the 1st link that you can keep making payments into the next year as long as you can show proof that you are actually being billed for those payments. That's no problem. For dh's account I did have to keep faxing receipts the first few times because the card wasn't actually swiped in person. Then they emailed me an orthodontics form so I wouldn't have to do that every month.

Hopefully, neither of our jobs change FSA administrators and we can keep going into next year. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

The orthodontist office always referred FSA questions back to my employer.

 

[jmartinez1895]

I have no personal experience with FSA, but I can tell you my personal experience on how our ortho files with our insurance.
While the full amount for my sons braces where due at the start of treatment, I too was able to get a great payment plan. When I get our EOB from the insurance what it looks like they do is bill for service dates on the day I took him.
So if he got his braces on today then they would bill the first claim today, then in Jan 014 when he goes for adjustment it will have a date of service for Jan 2014.
I would assume that for the FSA it might work the same way as long as your child is still getting adjustments while the payments are being made. If your child is done with treatment then that may be a problem.

 

[StephMK]

DD13 has had braces on a payment plan the last two years. We were able to put aside the amount we'd pay in that year. As long as I sent in the payment schedule to the FSA reimbursement company, they have paid bills both years. I'm not sure I explained that to make sense? Basically, we set aside roughly 1500 last year for her braces and 1500 this year to cover the $3000 total bill for treatment after insurance and it's all been reimbursed from our FSA.

 

[clh2]

My employer would "ONLY" pay the FSA funds based on the estimated length of treatment. paid out over 24 months (for example - based on the pre-treatment plan.) This worked GREAT for planning the FSA!

 

[dreamin_disney]

On the contract dd's was set up for 18-month payment plan I think. So the first year we paid $100 each month so we turned in the amount for that each month. Then the 2nd year we continued the same thing. We had to send in a copy of the contract and each month I would just include the $100 amount on the paperwork total due for medical and on a post it I would write
-DD's name
-Month of ortho payment
-amount

Talk to the ortho finance person so they can set it up the right way and give you info

 

[Cindy B]

We never did payments. For example, my son and my daughters cost was $2400. We found out total cost bill late in the prior year like October or November. We would plan our FSA for the next year after that visit in October or November. We would make an ortho appointment to begin treatment for the following year in January. All the FSA money for the entire year was in the account by January so it was all paid up front in the first visit.

We only paid for a records fee (paid by insurance) and a retainer and that was it! Payments were made on that first visit for the entire length of treatment (my son almost four years, my daughter 2)

 

[C-CMom]

My FSA administrator already had a very clear policy for Orthodontics, and it was very easy to set up to pay over the course of treatment (which spanned 2 FSA years). We sent a copy of the contract once, with scheduled payments set up. The Ortho office was also very flexible in billing on a frequency that worked for our insurance and FSA. When the end of the year calculation for the upcoming year came, I just figured what amount was left to maximize the amount held in the FSA.

 

[kennethsrib]

IHopefully, neither of our jobs change FSA administrators and we can keep going into next year. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

We do the same thing, its a different situation with ortho. The bill says for continuing orthodontia expenses. If you change jobs, you can have a new contract made up by the billing office. Don't worry