# Using flex spending to pay for a bill whose service was provided before the term?



## Nick (Jul 18, 2012)

Anyone know the answer to this? My wife gave birth on June 14th to our first son and the out of pocket for us is $750 (copay). 

I haven't yet gotten the bill. My flex spending account at my employer went into a new plan year on July 1st. Can I use flex spending to pay the bill or is it ineligible because the service happened prior to the plan year?

I am guessing the answer is "no" but it would sure be nice.


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## hammer (Jul 18, 2012)

It's the same calendar year...wouldn't hurt to ask.


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## Nick (Jul 18, 2012)

yeah unfortunately not the plan year. I don\'t think it will work, I did a little more research. I guess I could always just try it and see what happens.


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## SkiFanE (Jul 18, 2012)

Nick said:


> yeah unfortunately not the plan year. I don\'t think it will work, I did a little more research. I guess I could always just try it and see what happens.



You can't use it.  You could use it in last years plan year (up to 6/30), if you have $ left.

Each of my 3 kids cost $50, prenatal and delivery.  I'm frugal, LMAO!

Oh..and congrats on the new arrival!  Hope you are not too sleep deprived...enjoy...they really do grow like weeds!


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## hammer (Jul 18, 2012)

SkiFanE said:


> Each of my 3 kids cost $50, prenatal and delivery.  I'm frugal, LMAO!


Must have been in the days before insurance deductibles...the DW was active duty military when our son was born so the cost to us was $0, even though she had to get maternity care off-base.  When our daughter was born 4 years later IIRC we may have only paid a few doctor visit co-pays.  With my current plan we'd be out the $2000 deductible.


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## SkiFanE (Jul 18, 2012)

hammer said:


> Must have been in the days before insurance deductibles...the DW was active duty military when our son was born so the cost to us was $0, even though she had to get maternity care off-base.  When our daughter was born 4 years later IIRC we may have only paid a few doctor visit co-pays.  With my current plan we'd be out the $2000 deductible.



I had HMOs, everything but a few copays was included.  I believe under my current plan (PPO) it would be similar, if you stay in network (which includes top hospitals).  Lucky to live in the healthcare hub.


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## Nick (Jul 18, 2012)

It's annoying. What happened: 

I had health insurance at my employer for my wife and I. Because of the high copays for birth (read: $4,000) we switched onto her health insurance, which covered birth 100%. Figuring that after she gave birth and stopped working; she could come back to my policy but at least we wouldn't that hit that maximum out of pocket cost on my plan. 

2 months before the due date, her employer changed her policy to save money. They jacked up the copays to $750. 

So we were supposed to be free but found out (surprise!) six weeks before our due date that it would cost us $750. 

At least she's not on mine. Would have been multiple times that. Not sure how I can afford to ever have a 2nd kid haha.


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## skijay (Jul 18, 2012)

I have an HSA w/ the high deductible insurance plan with a $1,900 per calender yr deductible.  I have a unique employment situation and therefore I pay 100% of my premiums.  

I know that the HSA (health savings account) ran calender year.  I fund that myself also.  

I thought that the FSA was a calender year also.


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## MR. evil (Jul 18, 2012)

As far as i know FSA account are based on the calendar / tax year. For example my FSA renews every year on 12 /1, yet we can use any remaining funds in last years account up until the end of the year 12/31.


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## Nick (Jul 18, 2012)

MR. evil said:


> As far as i know FSA account are based on the calendar / tax year. For example my FSA renews every year on 12 /1, yet we can use any remaining funds in last years account up until the end of the year 12/31.



That woudl be good .... the plan year ends June 30th.


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## bvibert (Jul 19, 2012)

My FSA runs calendar year too, even though my insurance renews in October


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## Glenn (Jul 19, 2012)

Check with your HR Department. Some plans allow a grace period. Let's say this was an end of the cal year plan. You would have until Mid March to submit for the previous year's expenses. Provided those expenses happened in the previous plan year. I beleive the money would have had to been in your account at the time as well. So you couldn't have a expense in December, bulk up in January, then pay for it that way. 

The grace period becomes less of an issue because many TPAs (Third party admins) use some type of debit/credit hard to access HSA/FSA accounts. Back in the day, you used to have to manually submit a claim to the TPA for for any epense you paid for under the plan. Now, you can A) Pay at point of sale; like the drug store. or B) Pay a bill via the credit/debit card. 

Insert-themoreyouknow.jpeg here 

And a random other note...I'm a fan of HSA's...my wife and I have been on one for years. I like to bulk up the amount I put into an HSA vs having a "Limited" FSA. When you have an HSA, your FSA is limited to vision and dental. And remember, FSA contribution ammounts drop next year thanks to Healthcare Reform. The other nice thing about bulking up on your HSA contributions: The money doesn't go away at the end of the year; any leftovers just rollover.


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## thetrailboss (Jul 20, 2012)

Just wondering....who is your flex account manager/administrator?  Ours is ASI Flex and they are the dumbest people in the world.  Everytime we use our money for legitimate expenses, we get a letter in the mail saying that we have to mail them a copy of the receipt, even if it is obvious what the expense was for and that it was legitimate.  Talk about overkill.


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## Nick (Jul 20, 2012)

We use ADP. They SUCK. I had to spend almost 40 minutes scanning in $2 receipts to get reimbursed before. That might be more a function of the requirements of the gov't for documenting FSA eligible expenses though. 

The ADP website is horrible though. First off, you can't submit receipts in Chrome or Firefox. It doesn't work, but they don't tell you, until I called them trying to find out why my uploaded receipts weren't showing up. And it's totally unintuitive workflow for submitting expenses. You have to upload a doc, then create a claim, then attach the doc to the claim. Instead of just creating a claim and attaching a doc. They make you "link" them together. 

What drives me crazy is if you go to the same place, and it was approved before, why I need to resubmit proof again. WHen my wife was pregnant we had copays on the ultrasounds, and you'd think a place called, "Center for OBGYN" would obviously be a Dr. office. I had to submit each and every receipt. Ugh!

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth the hassle. I was thinking of using it for a big ticket item; like laser vision correction


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## hammer (Jul 20, 2012)

Nick said:


> We use ADP. They SUCK. I had to spend almost 40 minutes scanning in $2 receipts to get reimbursed before. That might be more a function of the requirements of the gov't for documenting FSA eligible expenses though.
> 
> The ADP website is horrible though. First off, you can't submit receipts in Chrome or Firefox. It doesn't work, but they don't tell you, until I called them trying to find out why my uploaded receipts weren't showing up. And it's totally unintuitive workflow for submitting expenses. You have to upload a doc, then create a claim, then attach the doc to the claim. Instead of just creating a claim and attaching a doc. They make you "link" them together.
> 
> ...



We have PayChex...a few years ago they were great, and their website still works fine, but now I can't seem to put in a claim without something getting kicked back.  I suspect they got into some trouble with the IRS and now they are being overly picky about claims.  In any case I've always had to submit complete receipts for each claim...and I usually highlight the information they need to make sure that they don't kick it back for something that is right in front of them (which has happened).

The DW has or had ADP at one point, and she had a debit card that she could use for FSA expenses.  What I couldn't figure is why she still needed to submit claims with receipts for items purchased with the card.  Thought that technology would be in place to approve the purchase on the spot based on the validity of the items bought and the current FSA balance.

I could make more comments, but they would border on being political so I won't...


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## thetrailboss (Jul 20, 2012)

I almost wonder if they make it as difficult as possible because, as dumb as it sounds, I believe ours is one of the "use it or lose it" types of accounts, so if you don't spend it you lose it.


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## hammer (Jul 20, 2012)

thetrailboss said:


> I almost wonder if they make it as difficult as possible because, as dumb as it sounds, I believe ours is one of the "use it or lose it" types of accounts, so if you don't spend it you lose it.


Don't see that argument...where I work, the unused FSA money ends up being redistributed to all employees after a few years.  Got a check a while back because someone else in the company left money in their account.


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## Glenn (Jul 26, 2012)

We use this company: http://www.evolutionbenefits.com/html/welcome.html

But they're more of a 4th party admin. We have a 3rd party that handles the cards and claims issues. The card makes life easier. As long as the merchant is "coded" correctly, the card will work at checkout.


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## Nick (Jul 26, 2012)

I have the card too. At CVS it will automatically deduct eligible items and then you just pay for the balance.


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