LASIK Flex Spending
October 8, 2014
What is an FSA or Health Savings Account that I can use for LASIK?
A Flexible Spending Account (FSA) is one of the most effectual yet under-utilized benefits offered by many employers. An FSA is a benefit that allows employees to pay for eligible health care expenses, such as LASIK, with pre-tax dollars. Since the amount is deducted before you are taxed, you instantly save money on the taxes you would have paid. Basically, you save on both income and social security tax! The United States government has approved the use of flex spending accounts for both traditional LASIK and the new Wavefront enhanced custom LASIK. You can now use tax-free flex spending accounts to get reimbursed for eligible medical expenses. In order for an expense to be reimbursable, the IRS states that the expense must be incurred primarily for the prevention or alleviation of a physical defect or ailment. In contrast, expenditures that are merely beneficial to the general health of an individual are not reimbursable when not incurred primarily for medical purposes.
Flex spending accounts allow you to use pre-tax income on medical expenses including deductibles, co-payments and medical expenses not normally covered by medical insurance like contact lenses, refractive surgery, even aspirin. LASIK is now one of these elective procedures that is covered by flex spending accounts. If you are interested in using flex spending for LASIK with Whitten Laser Eye, we encourage you to come in for an evaluation to determine if you are a good candidate for the surgery.
If you have a flex spending account already, it is important to plan to use that money. Often flexible spending account dollars are lost if not used by a specific date. Please call us if you have a flex spending account and we can begin to help you with your planning process.