<p>Our son had major jaw surgery this summer and we had to pay several thousand dollars out-of-pocket. How do we include this on the FAFSA?</p>
<p>well I hate to tell you but I don't think they really care.
There is a place to add it to your 1040 of course & many schools do request your w-2s & signed 1040 forms to confirm their data.
But even though the PROFILE does allow to add extra expenses ( and income) that wouldn't otherwise be evident, I haven't noticed that the colleges ever changed the EFC because of it.
Not for a few thousand anyway, if he had , had a kidney transplant & you were talking at least 5 digits in medical expenses, then maybe.</p>
<p>You can't include it in FAFSA. You have to submit FAFSA then contact the financial aid department and ask for a special circumstances adjustment because of large medical expenses. You will have to provide documentation proving the expenses. If they agree to the adjustment they go into your FAFSA and adjust the AGI down to reflect the costs. That is what they did with us last year.</p>
<p>While you are gathering the documentation together gather ALL your medical expenses for the family (prescriptions, health insurance). We provided all that and it was all used to reduce the AGI (except for a certain amount that is already included in the protected income allowance for medical expenses)</p>
<p>We had @ $10,000 in expenses and it did make a couple of thousand difference to the EFC</p>
<p>finaid has info about special circumstances adjustments here:
FinAid</a> | Professional Judgment | Special Circumstances</p>
<p>Here is a page more specific about the medical costs that may be used for a potential adjustment
FinAid</a> | Professional Judgment | Medical and Dental Expenses</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>Thank you. Hopefully we'll get an adjustment because it was about $8000.</p>
<p>Talk to Opiefrommayberry, I think you need better medical ins :(</p>
<p>A lot of insurance plans won't cover jaw surgery.</p>
<p>Any thoughts about whether we should send FA offices documentation upfront, or send a letter and offer to provide documentation if asked? What constitutes documentation?</p>
<p>We run about 10% of income in med expenses -- just below the catastrophic stop-loss level for our insurance, but because a fair bit is our premiums (which are high because we need the more expensive coverage to cover my $50K/yr. medication), we don't meet the 7.5% test, either. It's not that costs are unreimbursed, it's that we have LOTS of out-of-pocket and co-pays.</p>
<p>We are sitting right over the edge of full pay, so pursuing this coulod mean some real relief for us. If anyone has suggestions as to how to best pursue this, I would LOVE to hear them!</p>
<p>I'd go for the full presentation; make copies of all the documents showing that you paid whatever it was (insurance EOBs showing what was denied, bills from providers, cancelled checks -whatever proves that you actually paid these bills) then attach those to a letter explaining your circumstances and accompanied by a clear, neat chart of all the expenses.</p>
<p>Oh my goodness, the 2007 file of bills is 3" thick!</p>
<p>We called and asked after we filed FAFSA. Ds school told us the documentation they would require (biils, receipts, insurance co. documentation showing what they paid and what they did not, copays on prescriptions both from the company we have to use for long term prescriptions that we mail order and from local drug cos, insurance payments, dental payments).</p>
<p>Start as soon as possible especially if you will have to get some documentation from other companies. Our mail order prescription company sent us our records for the entire year. Our family Doc took a little longer as their billing is done in another town. Get receipts for EVERYTHING - insurance, dental, medical. </p>
<p>Start now. We filed FAFSA early Feb but it took us till March to get all the documents together for the adjustment so out FAFSA completion date showed as March. Don't know if it made any difference to her award.</p>
<p>The income protection allowance in the FAFSA formula allows about 11% for medical (so if your income protection allowance is $20,000 then $2200 would be for medical). Any costs over that may be used for an adjustment (each FA officer makes their own call).</p>
<p>Our documentation was over an inch thick. I attached an excell spreadsheet summary on the front listing everything by name & $ amounts. That was not asked for but as I had a job sorting it all out I thought it might help.</p>
<p>As i said list everything for all your family (husband/wife/all the kids). Good luck.</p>
<p>do colleges see a chronic health condition as a special circumstance? say a condition that may worsen limiting ability to be employed---also a planned surgery for early '08 (April) of course the receipts are key but do schools consider that a parent w serious health issue is fearful of spending $ on college due to fear of disability etc.
thanks for the help...</p>
<p>I have a related question regarding next years FAFSA and medical expenses.</p>
<p>This past June my DH was involved in an accident and was airlifted by helicopter. The cost of the flight was almost $15,000. We just settled it with our health ins after all these months. Yesterday we received a check in the mail for the whole amount of the flight -$12. Great right? But the check is made out to my Dh and we are supposed to pay the medivac company. Will this count as income for next year? I know tax wise if that is the case we can write off the $15,000 but since on the FAFSA there is no place for medical expenses will that cause a reduction in aid? $15,000 is a huge increase in income for anyone and I can only imagine what it will do for my D's aid package.</p>
<p>BTW, I told DH don't do anything until I find out for sure what this means.</p>
<p>The way I understood post #13 is that you paid $15,000 and health insurance reimbursed you $12 - but I don't know if that's what you meant.</p>
<p>Treat medical insurance reimbursements as if the provider was paid directly. It is not income.</p>
<p>If you itemize on your 1040 you can deduct unreimbursed medical expenses; I believe they have to be over 7.5% of your income.</p>
<p>Thanks Muffy. Because the medivac company was out of network for the insurance company they sent a check for $15,000 in my husbands name and then in turn we are supposed to pay the medivac company that plus an additional $12 co-pay. Will this make a difference in what you said?</p>
<p>Okay, now I'm understanding that the insurance company basically paid you for the whole thing and you haven't paid the medivac but are about to. So you are not paying anything for the medivac at all because your insurance has covered everything. If that's the situation, then the $15,000 should be treated as if it went right to the provider (as if you were in network) and wouldn't be reported on your 1040 at all (or FAFSA).</p>
<p>Thanks, that is what I was hoping. Taxes and the FAFSA thing can be so weird at times and ofc, confusing (as demonstrated by the bijillion FAFSA threads).</p>
<p>We did get an EFC adjustment last year. S was an incoming freshman and I sent copies of every EOB and a summary letter asking for review. The letter included a summary of all health costs including insurance premiums, prescriptions, eye, dental, co pays, and out of pocket. I don't think I included medical mileage, but I'm going to this year. </p>
<p>An estimate, which was fairly accurate, had been included when the Profile was filed in October for an EA school. That same Profile went to all his schools.</p>
<p>I did not send bills and canceled checks, just the EOB's. It was still several inches thick. I sent this to the 4 schools that were his final choice. Every one made a significant adjustment to aid and made it in the form of grants.</p>
<p>That is a great info about the adjustment!! It would be fairly easy to do that as all the EOB's are on my insurance website. Thanks a lot for some valuable info.</p>
<p>Oooh, sending EOBs would make it a lot easier. Will have to check to see if our insurance does online reports, too, as I'm sure there are a few EOBs around here that haven't made it to the file. Thanks!</p>