Health care costs can add up quickly depending on the care you need, especially if you have a family! The thought of increasing costs can make you worry about your family and how to address health needs. Luckily, there are options to ease anxiety about health care that can also help you save. A Flexible Spending Account (FSA) could offer relief and lets employees set aside tax-free money on qualified medical expenses.
An FSA can cover out-of-pocket medical expenses, give you access to health providers not covered by regular insurance, and help you save money on thousands of products. In order to opt into an FSA, your employer must offer the FSA. Once you sign up, you should estimate your expenses for the year and starting this year, you’ll be able to contribute $2,500 per person. If you and your spouse both have access to an FSA, you could put away $5,000 (tax-free) for health care!
FSAs have a “use it or lose it” rule which means that unused money is lost when the plan year ends. Employers can provide an additional 2 ½ month grace period to spend down FSA plans. One popular grace period is ending soon – March 15 (which happens to be my birthday). If you have an FSA that ended on December 31, check in with your provider to see if your plan qualifies for the grace period. Don’t miss out on using your FSA funds! There are lots of great products you can use your FSA funds on and a convenient site to purchase them on.
FSAstore.com was started with the idea that it should be convenient for people to use their FSA. It’s a one-stop-shop exclusively selling thousands of FSA-eligible products. Additionally, FSA Store offers a database with FSA health service providers, and an online Learning Center to answer FSA-related questions. Check out FSA Store before March 15 to avoid losing your 2012 FSA funds.
Get a $5 discount, too!!!
Use promo code BLOG5 at checkout to receive $5 off your order of $50 or more.
Popular FSA Eligible Products:
- Blood pressure monitors
- Breast Pumps, prenatal vitamins
- Hot and cold packs – heat wraps, eye masks
- Sunscreen, sunscreen lip balm and sunblock (Summer is coming!)
- First aid kits and Band-Aids (So important! Leave a set in your car!)
- Gel shoe inserts
- Contact lens solution
Disclaimer- I was compensated for this post but the opinions are my own.
Thanks for the info! I don’t have an FSA, but I know many people that do, I’ll be sure to share this info with them!
Great info. Thanks for sharing about these Flex Accounts. I so needed this info.