How an HSA and FSA Can Pay for LASIK Eye Surgery

Did you know that it’s possible to pay for LASIK eye surgery through your HSA or FSA? LASIK is often considered an elective medical procedure, which is why many insurance plans don't treat it as a covered expense. However, there are other ways to offset the cost of your surgery, including by using an HSA or FSA.

At LASIK Experts, we’re committed to making LASIK eye surgery as accessible as possible to our patients in Philadelphia, PA, Lawrenceville, NJ, and Cherry Hill, NJ. During a free consultation, our team will gladly determine if you can use your HSA or FSA to cover the cost of your procedure as well as what other flexible financing options may be available to you.

Until then, this is what you should know about paying for LASIK through an HSA or FSA.

What is an HSA and FSA?

Both a health savings account (HSA) and flexible spending account (FSA) are tax-advantage accounts that allow people with health insurance to save part of their pre-taxed income to use on varied medical expenses, such as deductibles, co-payments, and prescription costs.

There are important differences between these two types of savings accounts, including eligibility requirements.

For example, only people with a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) can qualify for an HSA, though not every HDHP is accepted. Annually, the government decides both the maximum an individual can contribute to an HSA and the minimum deductible an insurance plan can have to qualify as an HDHP.

Additionally, individuals with an HDHP can open an HSA with a private insurance plan. They then will deduct their yearly contributions when filing their taxes. But your employer may also offer an HSA and will invest a portion of pre-tax dollars from your paycheck.

Conversely, FSAs are only available through an employer as part of a benefits program. A portion of your pre-taxed income from each paycheck will go to the savings account. However, FSAs are pre-funded in the sense that the full contribution plan selected is usually available to be spent at the beginning of the year.

FSAs also offer less flexibility compared to HSAs. While unused funds in an HSA will roll over into the next year, for example, any unused balances in your FSA will be forfeited unless your employer allows it to roll-over. Still, the IRS limits the amount you can roll-over into the next year to $500.

Why Use You FSA or HSA to Pay for LASIK

While FSAs and HSAs have important differences, the medical expenses you can use them for are the same, including LASIK eye surgery. If laser vision correction is something you’re interested in, then looking into how your tax-advantaged accounts can benefit you is a good starting point.

LASIK is a life-changing procedure that can reduce or eliminate dependency on glasses and contacts. Some of the advantages of LASIK eye surgery include:

• It frees you from inconvenience.
  LASIK has the power to simplify your life by ridding you of the everyday inconveniences attached to glasses and contact lenses (like foggy frames and dry, irritated eyes).
   
• It’s a long-term solution.
  LASIK corrects common vision problems like nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), and astigmatism (blurred vision at all distances) by re-shaping the cornea. The changes made to the cornea are permanent, so you can enjoy clearer vision well into the future.
   
• It can save you money in the long run.
  LASIK may seem like a big expense, especially if you’re questioning whether to utilize a tax-advantaged account. But LASIK can actually save you money in the long run by reducing or eliminating expenses associated with glasses and contacts, like the need for new frames, contacts, or contact lens solution. Use our savings calculator to see how much you could save in your lifetime after undergoing LASIK.

If you’re in the Philadelphia, PA, Lawrenceville, NJ, or Cherry Hill, NJ area, we invite you to book a free consultation with LASIK Experts to learn more about laser vision correction. Our team will be happy to determine what procedure is right for you, and will provide further details on how an HSA, FSA, or another financing option can help you achieve your goal of clearer vision.