August 2011 Moms

Can anyone tell me about HSA?

So hubby's work puts aroung $50 per paycheck (bi-weekly) into an HSA. It does not come out of his pay, but is an added "bonus" from the company. We had no clue until the HR lady called and was like, "You know we have had your HSA debit card hanging around the office for almost a year". 

So roughly we have almost $1300 sitting in this HSA account. He said that its not a use it or lose it kind of thing, and that you can even save it for years and years? 

Anyone have this through work? What do you spend yours on? 

Hubby is going to ask today to see if we can use partial towards getting me new glasses during my eye exam next week. 
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Re: Can anyone tell me about HSA?

  • Here 'ya go, hot stuff...  There are tons of eligible expenses for you to use your HSA funds.

    HSAcenter - Health Savings Accounts - Health Care and Savings for You and Your Family 

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  • Shoot that is awesome

    So when buying something off this list, say I am ready to buy all new parts for my breast pump for this baby. Do I have to order from somewhere special? Or can I go to BRU and get the pump parts and pay with the card?
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  • Dh and I just went over this last night. He's on his third week at his new job so obviously it means squat right now, but yes we will have this through his job now. It's pretty awesome. But I'm wondering too, if you were to take from it for your eye exam, is there a penalty or something? I'm interested in the responses you get.
  • imageshanado:
    Dh and I just went over this last night. He's on his third week at his new job so obviously it means squat right now, but yes we will have this through his job now. It's pretty awesome. But I'm wondering too, if you were to take from it for your eye exam, is there a penalty or something? I'm interested in the responses you get.


    There is no penalty. That is what it is for. And I believe you can send in receipts and get reimbursed for things like breastpump parts. But double check on that last part.
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  • I'm sure every plan is different, but we have a HUGE list of what is considered a covered expense and we use our card to pay for those. Our plan is a use it or lose it every year type situation, so have hubs double check just to be sure.

    We use it mainly for my chiropractor, contacts, and copays. The only place we have a problem with is the dentist for some weird reason. Without fail the FSA people request a receipt for dental. We always save receipts just in case but rarely have we needed them.
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  • imageshanado:
    Dh and I just went over this last night. He's on his third week at his new job so obviously it means squat right now, but yes we will have this through his job now. It's pretty awesome. But I'm wondering too, if you were to take from it for your eye exam, is there a penalty or something? I'm interested in the responses you get.

    I wasn't penalized when I used mine for an eye exam and new contacts. They just asked for a copy of the receipt, which was NBD, and really easy because we could take a picture with an iPhone and text it to them.

    "Don't look back, you can never look back." - Don Henley
  • Having an HSA is awesome. We use our HSA for all copays, dental, vision, chiro visits, etc. You can even use it for individual counseling... but not couple's counseling. Some places are set up to take an HSA card like the pharmacy but retails places like BRU are set up as retail locations and not medical so you'd need to submit your pump purchases from BRU for reimbursement. However if you purchased your pump from the hospital store you could just use your card.
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  • We have HSA account at both our jobs and love it. Are you getting an actual HSA debit card or do you turn in your receipts and get reimbursed? We HSA for the dentist, contacts, eye exams, breast feeding supplies even breast pads are covered!
    I do a lot of shopping at drugstore.Com with our HSA card hopefully I can share that site, all the items that qualify under HSA are specified.
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  • imageamywalt1684:
    We have HSA account at both our jobs and love it. Are you getting an actual HSA debit card or do you turn in your receipts and get reimbursed? We HSA for the dentist, contacts, eye exams, breast feeding supplies even breast pads are covered!
    I do a lot of shopping at drugstore.Com with our HSA card hopefully I can share that site, all the items that qualify under HSA are specified.


    He is getting an actual card. They auto deposit the money each paycheck.
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  • I have no clue, but this HSA thing sounds pretty darn neat :D Hooray!
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  • That's awesome that his employer automatically contributes.  I would double check on the use or lose thing though; I know a lot of HSA plans do not roll over, so call the company that administers the HSA. 

    You should be able to use your HSA toward any out-of-pocket medical expenses, such as co-pays for doctor visits, prescription or OTC drugs, and even bathroom basics like pads, tampons, condoms, deodorant, saline solution, etc.  If I have a leftover balance at the end of the year I'll just go stock up on these supplies.

    Ideally, you want to contribute just enough to your HSA to cover all your medical expenses without going over.  Any contributions that you or your husband make will be from pre-tax dollars, so if you can use the HSA to cover these expenses you can save a lot of money. So if you anticipate a major medical procedure like a surgery (or LASIK) where your medical insurance won't cover it all, you can often use your HSA funds to fill inthe rest.  HSAs are awesome.

    Some workplaces even offer dependent care savings accounts that work like HSAs but you can submit daycare expenses too! 

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