5 Surprising Things You Can Pay for with Your Flexible Spending Account

If you’ve got a flexible spending account as part of your employee benefits package, your FSA can help you budget for medical expenses and decrease your taxable income. When you set up a flexible spending account, a certain amount of your paycheck goes into the account every month. This money can be used for copays, deductibles, and prescriptions. Alongside traditional medical expenses, your FSA can also be used for these 10 unexpected things.

1. Acupuncture

If your doctor deems acupuncture as a necessary treatment for you, the cost of it is FSA-eligible. The practice of inserting fine needles into a specific point in the skin relieves pains and can cure or ease a number of ailments. Acupuncture is known to help with constipation, dementia, addiction, and more.

2. Contact Lenses

Contact lenses and the products and materials you need to care for them can be paid for using your flexible spending account. However, they must be for medical purposes, not cosmetic reasons.

3. Medical Conferences

If you attend a medical conference that concerns a chronic illness of a dependent, your husband/wife, or yourself, your FSA funds will cover the cost of admission and transportation.

4. Paint Removal

Have you just purchased an older home? If so, you can use your FSA funds to cover the cost of lead-based paint removal that is peeling, cracking, or within reach of a child. Lead paint is now considered to be a harmful pollutant, and its manufacture was banned in the U.S in 1978. However, the cost of the repainting of surfaces won’t be covered by your flexible spending account.

5. Pregnancy Tests

Whether you are hoping for your first baby or expecting your fourth, you can use the money from your flexible spending account to cover the cost of at-home pregnancy tests.