An HSA makes it easier and more financially friendly to pay for healthcare expenses. It’s essentially a savings account specifically for eligible health-related expenses. But having this account is one thing, using it is something different. If you’re going to pay for medical expenses that are eligible, chances are you’ll want to have access so that you can get reimbursed from HSA.
Fear not though, accessing your HSA is pretty easy. And if you know what you need to do in advance it’ll make it way easier (and less intimidating) when it comes to having to use the account.
There are essentially two ways to get paid from HSA:
#1. Pay Directly From an HSA
Getting paid directly from your HSA is an ideal scenario, this way you don’t have to pay any money upfront. Depending on where you have your HSA and how it’s set up, you might be able to access direct pay HSA tools.
Typically these tools could include:
- An HSA debit card
- Online HSA payments
- An HSA checkbook
If you want to use these methods to pay your HSA expenses, it’s best that you talk to your provider who can give you detailed information about how you obtain HSA direct pay tools for your HSA.
#2. Get Reimbursed From HSA
Paying directly from HSA isn’t always an option, there are likely times where you will have to get reimburse from HSA after you’ve paid an out of pocket expense. You might undergo a procedure that costs more money than you have in your account or maybe you just have a lot of expenses at the same time and need to pay cash. Whatever the reason may be, getting reimbursed isn’t that hard.
When you make an out-of-pocket expense and need to get reimbursed from HSA, you will need to get approval from your account administrator (the institution that holds your account). While this process will likely be simple, you will have to follow whatever rule the administrator sets out for you. It probably won’t take a ton of complex paperwork or anything to get reimbursed from HSA, since they tend to want this process to be easy.
If you want to cut this time down, you should look into the above ways that you can pay directly from your HSA. That will make it so there isn’t so much after work that needs to be done to get you paid.
HSA Accounts
Another important thing to note is that in most cases your HSA expenses can be reimbursed at any point so long as your account has already been established. That means if you started your account in December 2018 and had a procedure in November 2019, you can get your reimbursement next month instead of right away.
Your HSA account doesn’t have to be particularly challenging to work with. Make sure that you ask questions when you need to (from your provider) and get to know what you can and can’t do with the account.
Do you have experience from getting reimbursed from HSA? Share your experience in the comments below!
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Tae started out as a journalist before following the money into the corporate world. But it turns out that the grass isn’t always greener and now you can find her spending most of her time writing about all the things she loves. Namely, money, travel and business with a hefty dose of self-deprecating humor. She is a podcast fanatic, blogging aficionado and loves to find new ways to turn passions into cold hard cash!