Holiday Health Check-List: Use It or Lose It

Adam Berry / Getty Images News

Featured Partner Contributor
Font Size:

Five words or less(NewsUSA) – As the end of the year nears, many of us are preoccupied with holiday parties, searching for the perfect gift for loved ones or making lists of things to accomplish before the new year begins. During this busy time, one important task is often forgotten on the to-do list: Make sure to use flexible spending account (FSA) funds before it’s too late.
Some employers will allow you to roll over $500 of your FSA funds into the next year. However, for those who are not permitted a carryover, these funds must be used by the end of the benefits year, which for most people is Dec.31. Otherwise the funds will be forfeited back to your employer. In fact, each year more than $400 million in tax-free income is wasted when FSA holders don’t spend these funds or fail to submit expenses to be reimbursed.
That said, it’s not too late to create a health care checklist to keep you and your family on a healthy track during these last few weeks of the year. Here are five ways to ensure you get the most out of your benefits dollars:
1. Schedule annual check-ups with ALL physicians. Visit important specialists, such as an optometrist, dentist, dermatologist or gynecologist, along with your primary care physician.
2. Don’t forget about eye care/medical aids. Consider whether you need an additional pair of eyeglasses, contact lenses or even orthotic shoe inserts to help utilize FSA funds.
3. Consider purchasing low-cost health care items. Stock up on items for year-round and emergency use, such as first-aid kits, contact solution, thermometers, neck/wrist/joint braces, aspirin and other pain relievers.
4. Ask employers about unique FSA offerings. Find out whether Lasik eye surgery, massages, acupuncture treatments, and other unique procedures or treatments are included in your FSA plans.
5. Submit receipts. If spending your entire FSA funds still seems unrealistic after any last-minute checkups and first-aid purchases, double-check to make sure you’ve submitted past receipts for eligible out-of-pocket health care purchases so you can be reimbursed.
“It’s important to review your out-of-pocket expenses from the past year and consider any changes that may occur to gain a better idea of how much to contribute to an FSA in the coming year,” says Matthew Owenby, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Aflac.
By creating a list, and checking it twice, you can ensure that you don’t leave money on the table as you prepare for a new year.

Featured Partner

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel