The so-called "Flexible" Spending Account

[robotech_master]

A post-script to my last: I was thinking about it and I just realized: my health FSA (Flexible Spending Account) is basically a long-term TV game show challenge.

I have to guess, at the beginning of the year, how much money from my paycheck I'm going to want to set aside in a tax-free fund for medical expenses for the entire rest of the year. And I can't change it once I've set it. If I guess too low, then I don't get to tax-deduct additional medical expenses. If I guess too high, I lose the unspent money at the end of the year.

It's exactly the kind of either-way-you-lose challenge they like to hit those poor saps with on shows like Jeopardy or The Price is Right.

"Flexible"? Ha.

I'll grant that being able to set aside money for that kind of expenses is helpful. It's going to let me get some tax-free remedial dentistry done in September, and make my chiropractic visits deductible. But surely there could have been a more, well, flexible way to make that possible.

Who thought this was a good and helpful idea?

(I ask this elsewhere and a friend replies, "The insurance company that gets to keep the unspent money, at a guess." So much for rhetorical qustions.)

Comments

Trying to deal with the insurance can be a headache fer sure.

[amigoid.livejournal.com]

If you know you are going to need dental work, and you know you are going to need Chiropractic, you could get some estimates as to how much all the visits are going to cost, how many are covered under your health plan, and for the dental side what procedures and for how much are covered.
Since I have 2 active teen boys and my wife and I all on the plan, I opted for the maximum amount, since it covers prescriptions, Chiro care (which is limited usually to a very small number of total visits) and it also is useful for the co-pays and other out of pocket expenses. As November approaches, I will review how much if any is left in my flex spending account and then use it to buy another set of glasses and do some dental work I have put off. If the expenses from my wife's knee injury, my back injections, and our family's prescription medicines have used up the flex spending, then its all good and we've maximized our tax break. Dental work and glasses can be very expensive out of pocket but the flex spending is a great option if you expect you'll need work done. Any money that is left unspent at the end of the coverage period is forfeited and can be applied to future plan administrative costs