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Wildly OT: HSA reimbursement question
Long shot (and I suspect I can guess the answer), but if you opened a Health Savings Account on, say, Jan 1 2015, can you legitimately reimburse yourself for medical expenses which occurred before that date?
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#2
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It's for the current year, with a small carryover to the next.
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#3
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the best way to use a hsa is to never file any reimbursements from it and use it as another retirement savings acct.
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#4
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Thanks @tiretrax. I'm still a bit confused. Let's assume I have $5000 in my HSA at the end of calendar year 2014, and that my contributions run at a rate of $100 per month. At the end of March 2015, I will have $5300 in my HSA. In April, if I incur a medical expense of $1000, are you suggesting I can only get reimbursed up to the $300 I've contributed so far that year?
Surely money in the account should be usable to reimburse for later year expenses. I know I originally asked about covering expenses accrued prior to starting to fund my HSA. I accept that isn't going to be possible. (I didn't think it would be.) Your answer sort of suggested that I can't use accrued contributions from earlier years to reimburse for later expenses either. |
#5
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#6
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Dependent care however can only be spent as it is accrued. |
#7
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The account based one, you can carry the left over money year to year and when you reach certain balance you can even invest with it (within the account.) Like your 529 plan for school.
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Dean El Diente BH Lynx 4.829 Jamis Ventura (Kickr) |
#8
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On the flip side, if you had an unexpected medical problem during the year, the chances are your FSA wouldn't have enough money in it to cover it. |
#9
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You might be able to ask the Doctor to rebill you.
Then if that new bill had a new date on it I would roll with it.
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Doing the best I can and often getting it wrong! |
#10
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I'm no CPA or tax expert, but here's my understanding.
If you have a Health Savings Account, you (or your employer) put money into it - up to a limit - to cover medical expenses. You get a tax deduction, and any qualified expenses you pay for with it let you take it out tax free. If you don't spend the money, it just sits there until you do spend it. Often, if your balance gets big enough, your provider may allow you to put it into an investment account. If you have a Health Care Reimbursement Account, your employer puts money into it that is taken regularly from your paycheck. You can use up to the full amount expected to be deposited by the end of the year on qualified expenses. But if you don't use it by the end of the year (or maybe the end of a grace period in January) you lose it. On the plus side, you could pay for that Lasik surgery early in the year even though you haven't actually had the full amount deducted from your paycheck. Another odd thing is that if you DO pay for the Lasik, but then you get laid off, you actually don't have to reimburse the company! Generally an HSA goes with a high deductible health plan whereas a HCRA doesn't. |
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