Has anyone used their HSA money to purchase diabetes-related equipment…that isn’t specifically labeled as “medical” equipment? If so, what are the steps required in order to be able to do this? I have a cushion of HSA funds built up and I’d love to buy three pieces of Sonar Alert equipment using the HSA funds, but I’m not sure of the process to purchase them. Diabetes is driving these purchases and I wouldn’t be considering purchasing them if I didn’t have a son with diabetes, so to me, it SHOULD BE allowed and capable of falling under the HSA umbrella, but I’m just not certain.
Has anyone used their HSA money to make these kinds of purchases? If so, what would be required? Is it different from one Insurance carrier to another? Do I need prescriptions? Any info would be appreciated.
@ClaudnDaye Yes, I’ve made purchases like that with my HSA before. If you’re lucky, the charge to the card will go through, and then you’ll later get notification that it was disallowed. Then you give them the reason it’s medical.
If you’re not lucky the charge to the card will be denied. Then you have to submit it for reimbursement with justification. The only good part I saw with the reimbursement was that they sent me a check for the full amount and I escaped taxes on it
With my HSA, I can either use the card, or I can simply reimburse myself.
A bit more work to reimburse myself, but it allows me to do anything I like. I did have the need to do this a couple years back. It was all done via the self-service web site from the bank/company/whatever that manages the HSA from my employer.
If I choose to do something improper and I am audited than I would have some serious questions to answer.
Obviously.
@Thomas, we also have this freedom with our HSA plan. I should probably reach out to my insurance and find out for sure what the specific process would be to either just make the purchase, or request approval to make the purchase. I guess I could just buy it and see what happens. I suppose not all HSA’s are the same so the rules probably vary on the processes that are either allowed, or expected.
