Comments on: Flexible Spending Account – Spend It Before You Lose It

By: jt

jt — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 20:04:17 +0000

Amazon does not accept FSA cards.

By: Jerry H.

Jerry H. — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 21:31:59 +0000

We did the same thing last year. we had almost $150 left in our FSA and didnt want to lose it. then our neighbor told us about the Fresh Air Club and how we should have our home air filters delivered instead of worrying about going to the store all the time (plus it was cheaper than home depot). So we went to http://www.freshairclub.com and signed up for their air filter subscription service. since my wife an i both suffer from allergies, this was a great way to keep the air in our home pollen free! Plus, we didn’t lose our FSA dollars.

By: Eric

Eric — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 20:40:47 +0000

I don’t really want to get into a political discussion, but Kate sounds pretty stupid.

By: kate

kate — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:41:19 +0000

I don’t really want to get i to a political discussion but Rick just sounds like an angry conservative with no viable solution to our healthcare crisis….the FSA is easy to use. I have a family of four and estimate my expenses based on insurance deductables and copays for things like routine physical exams (maybe I should skip these to keep demand/costs down?!! – then I could miss my tumor diagnosis and die), dental care (2x/year) and what I spend at Walmart on things like cold medicine, headache remedies, etc. All you have to do is keep a list of previous year’s expenses and go by that. If you have kids, orthodontics are covered so that’s a HUGE help! The feds are helping working families by giving them a much needed tax break on monies used for health services. BTW Rick, I have a child with rare congenital heart defects (a fluke of nature – NOT my fault) and you can’t imagine the hell I’ve been through getting coverage for her….anyone who thinks we don’t need a national “safety net” must walk a day in the shoes of the 1 million+ WORKING Americans born with some type of illness that the largely profitable insurance companies won’t cover! (I happen to have a degree in Business/Economics by the way)

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:24:37 +0000

I just finished spending my account at Healthwarehouse.com and got the most for my money! They have free shipping on everything, tons of over-the-counter products and 90 day prescriptions for $9.50. I got my stuff in 2 days with their free shipping, but they have expedited shipping if you want it.

By: Steph

Steph — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:17:51 +0000

I didnt even know what a flexible spending account was!

By: sue

sue — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:54:55 +0000

where does that unused money go? Who gets it?

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:37:00 +0000

walgreens.com is another site that I use to determine what items are eligible. If it is, there’s a FSA logo right next to the item. They also mark their FSA items on their price tags in the store now.

By: Matt Jabs

Matt Jabs — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:25:35 +0000

@RJWeiss: Yeah, you can get acupuncture straight away, but to get vitamins you have to prove medical necessity.

Crazy.

By: RJ Weiss

RJ Weiss — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:03:56 +0000

I didn’t know that acupuncture was included on that list.

Also, a few years ago I got glasses at the end of the year.

By: Matt Jabs

Matt Jabs — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:44:41 +0000

@Rick: I completely and utterly agree.

By: John DeFlumeri Jr

John DeFlumeri Jr — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:28:38 +0000

Yes, that unused money goes the way of Verizon prime time minutes, they disappear at the end of the month!

John DeFlumeri Jr

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:23:41 +0000

Things like this are exactly what’s wrong with our health care system.

First of all, you have to estimate your health expenses. But really, who can do this? If you can nail down your health expenses to the dollar, why even bother having health insurance at all. No, the point of insurance is to prepare for the unexpected, so you certainly can’t know what to expect in the way of health expenses.

But the bigger issue is that these FSAs artificially increase the demand for health care services. Just look at that list. If you have extra money in your FSA, go see a doctor. The point is, you wouldn’t have otherwise gone to the doctor, but because you have extra money, you have to spend it, and thus you go see a doctor. This clearly increases the demand for health services, and basic economics will tell you that an increase in demand for services will also increase the price of the services.

I believe this is just another example of how the government screws things up. By meddling with health care, they are really just increasing the prices of health care.

By: Des

Des — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:33:01 +0000

A few years ago I sent DH out on new years eve to buy $70 worth of band-aids so we could get use up our FSA money before it expired. I don’t think we’ll ever run out!