<p>Of course I'm down to the wire on figuring our medical FSA amount for next year. DD will go off to college and I'm wondering what to expect in terms of medical costs for her. I don't know which school she will attend. That would probably help but I won't know that before the deadline Monday.</p>
<p>So, can anyone provide some examples of the kinds of health care costs one should expect from a healthy kid going off to an Ivy or major academic college? I assume there is some student health plan that will be mandatory--but also assume that is treated like an insurance policy and not eligible for FSA expenses.</p>
<p>Also, she'll be a varisty athlete, if that makes a difference.</p>
<p>I know this isn't legal or accountant type answers--just looking for some idea of experiences or a place to go looking for the answers. I checked IRS.gov and wasn't able to quickly find anything.</p>
<p>Not all universities require their own health plan. Happykid’s U only requires it of otherwise uninsured students.</p>
<p>Check your medical records for the past couple of years. What did your kid run up in co-pays? What about eyeglasses, dental work, etc. I really don’t imagine that the expenses will suddenly change just because your kid is in college now.</p>
<p>RN case manager for a Fortune 50 health insurer here:</p>
<p>Another consideration: If you can get <em>any</em> bead on where (geographically speaking) your daughter will go, that may make a difference…if your health plan has any sort of restricted network…IOW, if all the doctors in the vicinity of Dream School U. are out of network and you may have to pony up an out of network/higher deductible, coinsurance or copayment.</p>
<p>Also, will you need to pay for things while she is at school you DON’T have to pay for when she is at home, healthwise? For ex., kid takes Concerta for ADD. Back home, pediatrician/family practice doc who knows kid/family well renews the Rx every month, without SEEING the kid every month—maybe they only SEE the kid in an office call every 6 mos. Away from home/at school the local doc may insist that for such a med, the kid is actually SEEN monthly, hence an office visit copay every month.</p>
<p>To the OP–can’t help you much but I’m facing the same decision. FWIW, we opted out of the school’s health insurance for both DS#1 and DS#2. They have good coverage (BC/BS through my employer) and have only incurred minor expenses (maybe $25 once or twice a year) for student health co-pays. Re: sports injuries–they’ve been covered by our health plan just as they were when the kids were at home. Plus they still do check-ups/dental stuff/knee surgeries ( ) at home.</p>
<p>I’m too lazy to do an in-depth analysis of what to put in our FSA. I started with one figure back when they were first available and have kept it at that level since. We’ve never had a problem utilizing all of the funds (sometimes earlier in the year, sometimes later). (In fact, just called our dentist this week to get an account of our billings for 2012, most of which were never submitted to the FSA.) I’m thinking there will come a point when we’ll have to start scrambling to spend those dollars late in the year, and that’s when I’ll start to ratchet it down.</p>
<p>If you <em>haven’t</em> had a problem with the amount you have in there in prior years, I’d probably stick with what you have for this next year. You could also plan to keep good documentation/receipts should it look like you have a chunk leftover late next year. There really is a ton of stuff that’s covered, including many OTC meds.</p>
<p>You won’t be able to use FSA funds to pay for the college medical plans. I’m not sure what difference it makes that your child is considering an Ivy. Look up the requirements and how they bill from student health services at the colleges she applied to for numbers there. If she is normally healthy thought I would not expect that to change very much. The FSA limit was dropped to $2500 for 2013 so in many ways it’s easier to figure out how much to have withheld. I agree that you need to check your plan to see if the drs around her potential schools are in your plan. Also, did get get any likely letters from her schools? If she is a DI recruit, she should have a good idea by now where she will be going? What are her back up schools if she didn’t get a likley letter? Check those as well.</p>
<p>They have also changed what is covered and OTC medicines are NOT allowed unless you get a prescription for them–which is easy enough to do, you just have to remember to ask and keep a copy of the prescription and your receipt. If anyone wears contacts or glasses, those are always a good “it’s December and I have money left” expenditure from a FSA :D.</p>
<p>On a related (but possibly useful) note, I waived the school insurance this year. For my D, health services are free for students with the exception of prescriptions and vaccinations provided by the school. I got my D her own FSA VISA so she could just use that for any of those expenses. The first time she was sick, they gave her a Z-pack because she didn’t feel well enough to walk to the pharmacy. They take credit cards, but they didn’t accept the FSA Visa. I suspect they aren’t a designated health care entity so the denial was on the FSA end. She gets her routine prescriptions at a Rite Aid with the FSA card. I could get reimbursed from the FSA for those other costs, if she saved the receipts/mailed them to me. But, the busy college student is very focused on that. </p>
<p>I may be starting a new job soon that only offers a high deductible with HSA account and , if that happens, I’ll be switching her to the student insurance. SteveMA- I know you’re in insurance. Can I use the HSA account to pay for her student health insurance premium? I’m guessing no.</p>
<p>We opted out of the college’s health plans also, though our kids would be out of network if they had to go to a doctor (emergencies are covered). My kids rarely get sick though, D went to her college health clinic once in 4 years for strep throat, paid $50 total for the visit and antibiotic. She had dental, vision, and dermatology appts when she was home with her regular doctors. My S is halfway through his sophomore year and has not yet needed to go to his school’s clinic. They are both 4 hours away and I feel like I could get there if something major came up.</p>
<p>“I could get reimbursed from the FSA for those other costs, if she saved the receipts/mailed them to me. But, the busy college student is very focused on that.”</p>
<p>When my daughter went away to school we had a flex spending account that my family used. Fortunately, nobody in my family was on any prescription medication for a long period of time. We tried to have my daughter mail her receipts to us too but like 2016BarnardMom said, “if she saved the receipts”. We found that having her go to [FSA Store](<a href=“http://fsastore.com/”>http://fsastore.com/</a>) was better for all of us. She told us what to get her over the phone. She had us get her contact solution, vitamins, and a lot of chap-sick. This finally eliminated the argument over saving and mailing receipts back home!</p>
<p>In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) amended previous legislated definitions of which over-the-counter (OTC) healthcare expenses are eligible for tax advantaged benefit plans such as Flexible Spending Accounts, Health Reimbursement Arrangements, and Health Savings Accounts. The language made the current definition very clear, reimbursement for expenses incurred for a medicine or drug shall be treated as a reimbursement for medical expenses only if such medicine or drug is a prescribed drug (determined without regard to whether such drug is available without a prescription) or is insulin.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s school, visits to the health center are covered in your basic tuition/fees. There is an insurance requirement, but we opted out of the college plan and she’s still on ours. They tell the kids to bring their insurance card when they go to the health center, but that’s just in case they need a transfer to an outside doctor or hospital or if they need to go to a pharmacy.</p>
<p>She’s been sick once this fall (she’s a freshman and swears that all the freshmen get the freshman plague at some point), but there was no health center visit – she handled it all via OTC medicines that we stocked up on when she started school (perhaps a chance to use FSA dollars there, stocking your student’s medicine cabinet?).</p>
<p>dadx3–yes, you need a prescription but you can ask your dr for a prescription for allergy meds, aspirin, etc. that are now over the counter and get reimbursed–keep a copy of the prescription and the receipt from the pharmacy. Since they are over the counter drugs you can call your dr for that prescription and have them call it into the pharmacy, no need to go to the dr for that.</p>
<p>One big expense for kiddos recently was lots of dental fillings and also some wisdom teeth removal. Those were our biggest medical/dental FSA-eligible expenses. If your kiddo already had wisdom teeth removed or doesn’t need cavities filled, s/he should be MUCH less.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip on FSA Store, Zach! We have an FSA as well, but it runs until March 15 and had some money to use before then so we shopped the site. We had no idea that sunscreen and shoe inserts were [fsa</a> eligible expenses](<a href=“http://fsastore.com%5Dfsa”>http://fsastore.com).</p>
) at home.</p>