Dumb FSA question - updated

[wildrice]

Updated: Yes, this was approved! Apparently they have already cut a check and it's in the mail. What a relief that the money isn't going to be wasted!


My H sees a counselor that doesn't take insurance, so we just pay out of pocket. This would definitely be eligible for a FSA intended for healthcare expenses, right? FWIW he sees them for ADHD, but depression is also listed on the invoices as a diagnosis. 

I learned today that I have to use another nearly $600 in our FSA by the end of the month. I did not pay attention (or was not told, who knows) that our plan year ends on May 31st and that the entire $800 I wanted for the year had to be used between January when I enrolled in benefits and now. He has at least $600 worth of invoices to submit so if they will be covered, we are fine. If there is any reason to suspect they may be rejected, though, I really need to come up with an alternative plan to use the money before we leave on vacation in 2 weeks. I do NOT want to waste this money! I'm afraid it might take a couple of weeks to hear back whether or not they are approved expenses so I'm a little worried.

[mainelyfoolish]

Yes, you can use your FSA for your spouse’s medical expenses. As long as his “counselor” is a medical professional of some sort, his appointments for treatment of ADHD and/or depression are considered medical care. You couldn’t use a FSA for something like a life coach or marriage therapy.

[sadlebred]

I'd call your FSA administrator or the company that administers it to check to be sure. They should be covered, but I'd check for piece of mind. If not, do you have any other copays? Dentist? New glasses? Contacts? Need any devices? I just bought a Kardia Mobile to use up some FSA funds. A lot of OTC products like cold meds, pain meds (Tylenol, Advil), and the like are covered by FSA. Most drug stores have little tags by products that are FSA eligible.

[wildrice]

May 13, 2022 6:47:20 GMT -5 sadlebred said:

I'd call your FSA administrator or the company that administers it to check to be sure. They should be covered, but I'd check for piece of mind. If not, do you have any other copays? Dentist? New glasses? Contacts? Need any devices? I just bought a Kardia Mobile to use up some FSA funds. A lot of OTC products like cold meds, pain meds (Tylenol, Advil), and the like are covered by FSA. Most drug stores have little tags by products that are FSA eligible.

Unfortunately, we don't really have anything else that we could use it for appointment-wise in the next 2 weeks. We will have dentist at some point this year and will have other copays on medications and stuff throughout the year, but it's kind of too late to schedule anything new. I could get a 2nd pair of glasses, but I really don't need them so that feels like a waste.

Good idea on calling the FSA administrator, though. That will at least give me more confidence. Otherwise I'm going to have to seriously stock up on stuff, but I'm afraid a lot of the meds and things will expire before we actually use them if I buy almost $600 worth!

[tacokick]

We had similar situation and I ended up buying things like $$$ moisturizer with sunscreen it it, period products, band-aids, pimple patches, face wash, vitamin C serum, shoe insoles, tinted lip balm with SPF. A lot more products can be bought using those funds than I realized. There are a couple of stores online that only sell FSA eligible items.

Most OTC medication has an expiration date of 2-4 years out so I bought allergy medicine.

Covid tests count too.

[twinmomma]

I was able to get reimbursed from my FSA for the Theragun I bought at Kohl's! So that was a nice surprise. And it's a high ticket splurge item.

[janegold]

You may be able to submit past receipts for reimbursement; you can with my FSA administrator.

And if you can't, check out fsastore.com/. I could easily blow several hundred dollars here. Don't let it go to waste.

[VillainV]

Does anyone in your household need new glasses or prescription sunglasses?

[wildrice]

May 13, 2022 18:11:17 GMT -5 janegold said:

You may be able to submit past receipts for reimbursement; you can with my FSA administrator.

And if you can't, check out fsastore.com/. I could easily blow several hundred dollars here. Don't let it go to waste.

This is a really helpful link! I actually went to Walgreens last night and it was kind of confusing figuring out what was eligible and what wasn't, so a website that only carries FSA stuff is much simpler. And ordering online is nice if I find out on May 30th that I still have a bunch of money to spend and I'm out of the country and can't go to a store. 

[jewel]

If you do need to spend down, you can search FSA on the Costco website and they have tons of eligible items. It’s been a few years, but I had to do a big spend down once. I just stocked up on anything we might need - sunscreen, otc meds, feminine supplies, first aid stuff, vitamins, pulse ox machine, thermometer, BP machine, etc.