Using a Health Savings Account to Pay for Alternative Medicine

Health Savings Accounts allow you to set up tax-deductible account to pay medical expenses not covered by your health insurance. This includes costs to cover your deductible and other medical expenses like dental and eyeglasses. But many do not realize that HSA funds can be used to pay for almost any type of health services, while referring to the treatment or prevention of certain health conditions.

Since money withdrawn from medical savings accounts to pay medical expenses is tax-free, anyone who has an HSA can direct all alternative medical expenses through the HSA and get a tax write off. This could involve biofeedback, and naturopathy, Ayurvedic medicine, aromatherapy, magnetic healing, reflexology, and the list goes on.

People who use complementary therapies are often very health conscious, and go to traditional physicians less often. So it makes no sense for them to pay high premiums for traditional health insurance plan with a co-pay, especially when their medical treatments are not covered anyway. Instead, many are choosing low-cost high-deductible HSA plan.

alternative therapy becomes mainstream

Many hospitals now offer Complementary tretmane.Web site for Memorial Sloan-Keating Cancer Center states that complementary therapies are used to "help alleviate stress, reduce pain and anxiety, manage symptoms, and promote a feeling of well being."

Some group health insurance plans are beginning to cover more complementary expenses, but still very little coverage of these costs in the individual or family plans. Those who cover chiropractic limit coverage of 12-20 visits per year, and some will cover a limited amount of acupuncture. But very little if any cover hypnotherapy, Reiki, Iridology, or faith healers.

Why Complementary Medicine

conventional medicine practiced by the majority of MDS is called allopathic medicine.Filozofija this system is to treat diseases and injuries using the neutral method. For example, if you have a fever you can take aspirin to go down, if your cholesterol is elevated May you take a statin to reduce it, if you have heartburn you take antacid.Razmišljanja May was mainly focused on eliminating the symptoms of disease, and primary treatment are surgery and prescription drugs.

However, there are other ways to look at things. Naturopathic medicine is based on the belief in one's own body healing, which can be strengthened through the use of certain foods, vitamins, herbs, and other "natural" treatments. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is based on ancient Chinese theories of balance of yin and yang. Ayurvedic medicine is based on the principles of movement, metabolism, and structure.

Part of growing use of complementary therapies is a reaction to the costs, side effects, and the philosophy of conventional allopathic medicine. Doctors are most of their continuing education from the pharmaceutical industry, and they work in an environment in which insurers and patients are both looking for quickly popraviti.Rezultat that the average 60 years is now taking 5 regular medications, but there is little expectation that these medications will never cure the health problems for which they are used. Many consumers see it, and instead use other methods to try to get to the root of their illness.

which is considered the "HSA Qualified costs"

qualified medical expenses are partially defined in IRS Publication 502, and through various federal court rulings. There is no definitive list, but they are really very few restrictions as long as the procedure for the treatment or prevention of certain health conditions. For example, you can use your HSA funds to pay for a relaxing massage for your personal enjoyment. However, if your doctor recommends that you get a massage for specific medical reasons, it is considered a qualified expense. Yoga not normally be considered a qualified medical expense, but it would be like if recommended physical therapy after some kind of accident.

Some May issue of why the government would provide tax relief for someone using some crazy energy vibration machine to cure their cancer. However, it is as it should be. No, but you should be able to decide what type of treatment you use for your own illness. By empowering individuals to manage their health as they see fit, Health Savings Accounts encourage personal responsibility and help loosen the monopoly on health care that conventional medicine has had in the past few decades.