Surprising Things You Can Buy With Your FSA

With a new year comes a refreshed flexible spending account for out-of-pocket medical costs. While you may not have obvious medical expenses to spend your FSA money on, there are plenty of approved uses for FSA funds that often slip under the radar.

Here are just a few ideas of how you can use your FSA money for “free” services.

A DNA test can not only teach you more about your heritage, it can help trace the likelihood you’ll contract certain illnesses or diseases due to any mutated genes you may possess. As such, DNA tests can be covered by FSA funds.

Even if you’ve got dental insurance, you can use your FSA funds to pay for things like your deductible or any co-pays. If you aren’t covered by insurance, you can use your FSA for the full cost of any dental procedures.

It may not be too surprising to learn you can buy prescription glasses with an FSA if you don’t have medical insurance to cover the cost. But you also can use your FSA funds to buy sunglasses, even high-end models from Ray-Ban, Gucci or Prada.

Sleep masks, along with other nonprescription sleep aids, can be paid for with FSA funds. This includes items such as earplugs. As sleep is an important part of overall health, many sleep aids like these qualify as FSA-eligible.

Prescription skin care products that are deemed medically necessary by a doctor are FSA-eligible. Examples include prescription products for conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. Cosmetic products, such as general application toners or moisturizers, do not qualify.

Before Congress passed the CARES Act to help Americans through the coronavirus pandemic, FSA funds were not authorized to pay for over-the-counter medications. However, you can now use your FSA money to buy everything from pain relievers such as ibuprofen to allergy medications such as Benadryl.

You can use FSA funds for most typical contraceptive products, from condoms to birth control pills. Some of these products already may be covered by your insurance; but, if not, you can use your FSA funds to purchase them.

Any sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or above qualifies as an acceptable use of FSA funds. This applies to any product that has coverage of SPF 15 or higher, including creams, lotions or other skin care products.

Acupuncture is still considered a form of alternative medicine, but that doesn’t matter in terms of a flexible spending account. If you need a quick acupuncture session — or want to buy a package from your local provider — you can use your FSA funds to cover it.

Are you missing a first aid kit in your home? How about in your car? Wherever you need it, you can use your FSA funds to get the peace of mind from knowing you’ve got your basic first aid needs covered.

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