HSA funds for treatment w/out submitting to insurance
March 6, 2016 3:07 PM Subscribe
My friend has been seeing a psychologist, but not submitting the bills to insurance. Can they use their HSA funds to pay the bills?
As per the internet, HSA funds can be used for psychologists.
The psychologist has a policy of not interacting with insurance companies - all bills must be submitted by the patient.
The plan would cover the visits even though they're out of network.
My friend doesn't have easy access to a printer so they have just not been bothering to submit the bills or pay what they owe. They have enough money in their HSA account to pay what's owed, but they don't have enough in their regular spending account.
I know from personal experience that FSAs are very insistent that you have proof you submitted the bill to insurance before you try to pay the expense with the FSA but this HSA interface doesn't seem to care.
I feel like it should be possible for them to just pay the bills out of the HSA to get it over with and settle up with their psychologist, then buy a printer, submit the bills to insurance and put the money back into the HSA when and if the insurance company reimburses. Is this a bad idea?
As per the internet, HSA funds can be used for psychologists.
The psychologist has a policy of not interacting with insurance companies - all bills must be submitted by the patient.
The plan would cover the visits even though they're out of network.
My friend doesn't have easy access to a printer so they have just not been bothering to submit the bills or pay what they owe. They have enough money in their HSA account to pay what's owed, but they don't have enough in their regular spending account.
I know from personal experience that FSAs are very insistent that you have proof you submitted the bill to insurance before you try to pay the expense with the FSA but this HSA interface doesn't seem to care.
I feel like it should be possible for them to just pay the bills out of the HSA to get it over with and settle up with their psychologist, then buy a printer, submit the bills to insurance and put the money back into the HSA when and if the insurance company reimburses. Is this a bad idea?
More specifically, the universe of eligible medical expenses you can pay with an HSA is not coterminous with the universe of medical expenses covered by a given insurance plan.
posted by devinemissk at 3:13 PM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by devinemissk at 3:13 PM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I know, but I was wondering if an expense is covered by insurance, then is there a requirement that you send it to them first before using the HSA funds.
posted by bleep at 3:15 PM on March 6, 2016
posted by bleep at 3:15 PM on March 6, 2016
Best answer: You do not need to submit a bill to insurance before paying with an HSA.
posted by zippy at 3:26 PM on March 6, 2016
posted by zippy at 3:26 PM on March 6, 2016
If it's in-network, then you should submit to insurance first, as there is likely to be a discount.
If out-of-network, there's no advantage there; they can go ahead and pay from the HSA. They should still submit to insurance, though, if only to get credit on the deductible.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 3:33 PM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
If out-of-network, there's no advantage there; they can go ahead and pay from the HSA. They should still submit to insurance, though, if only to get credit on the deductible.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 3:33 PM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
As an aside, depending on your insurance company, you may not need a printer to submit out-of-network bills for reimbursement. I have United, and you submit it through their web portal. You need the provider's license code and the diagnosis code, which should be on the bill. (Seriously, they want you to print and mail something? In 2016?)
posted by Violet Hour at 3:34 PM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Violet Hour at 3:34 PM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]
HSA is to be used for paying allowed medical expenses. As long as they can document that the withdrawal was used for that purpose (bills from the psychologist is fine) in the case of an audit, it's fine.
I feel like it should be possible for them to just pay the bills out of the HSA to get it over with and settle up with their psychologist
This should be possible - your friend should have been given a debit card for the HSA. Use that to settle up with the psychologist. If they only accept check, you write a check, then withdraw that amount from the HSA to reimburse yourself and document that.
then buy a printer, submit the bills to insurance and put the money back into the HSA when and if the insurance company reimburses.
The only downside of this approach is that if your friend was planning to max out his HSA contribution this year, then this is arguably lowering the amount he is able to contribute, because here you're not "replacing" the amount that was previously withdrawn from previous years' contributions and should have been otherwise been paid by insurance, you're simply contributing whatever you get back from the insurance company, which counts towards your max.
If he has no intention of contributing to the HSA to the max at all, then this shouldn't be an issue.
posted by Karaage at 3:34 PM on March 6, 2016
I feel like it should be possible for them to just pay the bills out of the HSA to get it over with and settle up with their psychologist
This should be possible - your friend should have been given a debit card for the HSA. Use that to settle up with the psychologist. If they only accept check, you write a check, then withdraw that amount from the HSA to reimburse yourself and document that.
then buy a printer, submit the bills to insurance and put the money back into the HSA when and if the insurance company reimburses.
The only downside of this approach is that if your friend was planning to max out his HSA contribution this year, then this is arguably lowering the amount he is able to contribute, because here you're not "replacing" the amount that was previously withdrawn from previous years' contributions and should have been otherwise been paid by insurance, you're simply contributing whatever you get back from the insurance company, which counts towards your max.
If he has no intention of contributing to the HSA to the max at all, then this shouldn't be an issue.
posted by Karaage at 3:34 PM on March 6, 2016
Yep, I do this all the time. Pretty much the point of an HSA is to pay for stuff not covered by insurance (e.g., copays).
posted by desjardins at 3:47 PM on March 6, 2016
posted by desjardins at 3:47 PM on March 6, 2016
Response by poster: (Seriously, they want you to print and mail something? In 2016?)
Well for one thing, Cigna is just a horrible company all around. But on top of that, why would they pay money to build a feature that would only ever result in them losing money? I'm more shocked to find out any insurance co has online claim submission.
posted by bleep at 5:56 PM on March 6, 2016
Well for one thing, Cigna is just a horrible company all around. But on top of that, why would they pay money to build a feature that would only ever result in them losing money? I'm more shocked to find out any insurance co has online claim submission.
posted by bleep at 5:56 PM on March 6, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by devinemissk at 3:10 PM on March 6, 2016