Author Topic: Paying medical expenses with an HSA?  (Read 2022 times)

nara

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Paying medical expenses with an HSA?
« on: March 14, 2017, 09:53:42 PM »
I just fully funded an HSA for 2016 and will be doing the same soon for 2017. Normally I don't have large medical expenses--however, I had a very unexpected dental issue come up and am looking at expenses of over $4,000 for a dental implant. Is this worth dipping into the HSA for or should I just suck it up and pay out of pocket? The money that would go to pay for the dental implant would be invested instead in that case.

farfromfire

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Re: Paying medical expenses with an HSA?
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2017, 06:15:14 AM »
Definitely pay out of pocket, if you can afford it, as unlike regular investments the withdrawals will be tax free when you withdraw years from now.

Dezrah

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Re: Paying medical expenses with an HSA?
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2017, 07:16:30 AM »
Single or family plan?  If single, you won't even have the full $4k yet, so it's out-of-pocket anyway.

Also, make certain your dental work is medically necessary, not just cosmetic.  Cosmetic procedures like veneers, whitening, straightening, etc. can't use HSA funds.

Otherwise, if you have the funds to pay out of pocket, do that and save a digital, cloud-based copy of the receipt.  If you have financial trouble in the future you can redeem the amount on your receipt.  You can even redeem it in 30 years for that original receipt amount.

MoonLiteNite

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Re: Paying medical expenses with an HSA?
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2017, 05:26:08 AM »
You can claim the money later on, you are not required to claim it now.
So you can pay out of pocket now, then later claim it from your HSA and get repaid, tax free.

It is NOT a loss on the triple tax savings effects if you just report it at a later time :D

chasesfish

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Re: Paying medical expenses with an HSA?
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2017, 05:41:06 AM »
Here's the best post ever written on HSAs:

http://www.madfientist.com/ultimate-retirement-account/

I used to pay all the medical expenses out of the HSA.  I've now switched to paying out of pocket and saving my receipts for reimbursement later.