Use Your Health Savings, Flexible Spending or Medical Savings Account forAcupuncture, Massage and More

Julee Miller, AP, DOM,LMT
Health Pointe Jacksonville
3840 Belfort Road #305
Jacksonville, FL 32216
(904) 448-0046/ www.hpjax.com

The year is almost over and now is the time to look into getting a
flexible spending account (FSA), health savings account (HSA), or medical savings account (MSA).

Did you know that you can use these accounts for a variety of things…including Acupuncture, Therapeutic Massage, Natural Healing and Hydrotherapy?

Based on the federal tax code, a qualified expense “must be to alleviate or prevent a physical or mental defect or illness.”

If you’re like the majority of our clients, you deal with a host of conditions that cause/contribute to chronic pain, stress, and other issues affecting your quality of life. In order for Acupuncture, or Therapeutic Massage to be covered, there are a few steps you’ll need to take:

1.) Get a prescription for manual therapies and/or hydrotherapy. You’ll need a prescription for these for it to count as a qualified medical expense. Talk to your medical practitioner (any healthcare provider who can write a prescription). The prescription makes it medically necessary and should be covered.
Make sure the prescription contains the proper information. The prescription should contain three pieces of information: Length of treatment, duration, reason for prescribing therapies.

2.) Schedule your appointment. You won’t need to bring your prescription with you.

3.) Get a “medical receipt” for your session. When you check in, let us know that you’ll need the receipt to submit. We’ll give you a receipt that has the documentation you need (such as insurance classification code and description of the therapeutic service). We can either print the receipt or e-mail it to you. And remember that even though an expense is approved, you could still get audited by the IRS. So keep your written prescription and your FSA debit or credit card statement.

If you don’t have an FSA or an HSA and are wondering what they are, here are some broad definitions:

A flexible spending account (FSA) is a tax-advantaged financial account that allows an employee to set aside a portion of his or her earnings to pay for qualified expenses, most commonly for medical expenses, and is offered through an employer’s cafeteria plan. Money deducted from an employee’s pay into an FSA is not subject to payroll taxes, resulting in a substantial payroll tax savings. The medical expense FSA (also medical FSA or health FSA), is similar to a health savings account (HSA), but medical FSAs are commonly offered with more traditional health plans. With most FSA, you must use up your funds each year.

An HSA is a tax-advantaged medical savings account available to people who are enrolled in a high deductible health plan. The funds contributed to the account are not subject to federal income tax at the time of deposit. HSAs are owned by the individual, and funds may be used to pay for qualified medical expenses at any time without federal tax liability. Unlike an FSA, funds roll over to the next year if not spent.If you don’t have one of these accounts, look into them now and reap the benefits!Health Savings of AmericaUS Govt GSA info