Use An FSA To Fund Your Fertility Treatment

A Flexible Spending Account (FSA) is an account set up through your employer for medical expenses not covered by insurance such as office visit or prescription medication copays, dental or vision expenses, over-the-counter medications, or medical procedures such as infertility treatment. All expenses must be intended to treat or prevent a specific medical condition. Money is taken out of each paycheck, then you submit a request for reimbursement whenever you have a qualifying expense. All expenses must occur during the calender year- January 1st-December 31st.

The benefit to FSA's is that the money deducted from your paycheck for a FSA is not subject to payroll taxes. FSA's are also "prefunded" by your employer meaning the entire amount of money you select to put in your FSA is available on January 1st. If you are terminated or leave your company before the end of the calender year you do not have to reimburse your company if you already used the entire amount. One of the drawbacks to FSA's is the "use it or lose it" policy- if you do not use all the money in your FSA before the end of the calender year you lose it.

Typically toward the end of the year (October-December) companies allow you to select your benefits for the following year including health insurance and FSA's. So now is a great time to start thinking about setting up a FSA for 2010 or using up the rest of the money in your FSA for 2009!