I have one of those employer sponsored Health Savings Accounts (this is not a flexible spending account but rather an HSA that goes with a High Deductible Insurance Policy my employer offers). I put away $xxx into a HSA and am responsible for the first $1200 of medical expenses before my insurance kicks in.

So because I have not had to go to the Dr very often I have a pretty large sum of money saved up in my HSA. I was thinking the other day - I wonder if I could use this to get a couple pairs of Skins recovery tights or something. You could easily say its to help circulation, alleviate pain, help varicose veins, etc/etc.

Doesn't seem too far fetched does it?


Government HSA FAQ:

How do I know what is included as “qualified medical expenses”?
Unfortunately, we cannot provide a definitive list of “qualified medical expenses”. A partial list is provided in IRS Pub 502 (available at www.irs.gov). There have been thousands of cases involving the many nuances of what constitutes "medical care" for purposes of section 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code. A determination of whether an expense is for "medical care" is based on all the relevant facts and circumstances. To be an expense for medical care, the expense has to be primarily for the prevention or alleviation of a physical or mental defect or illness. The determination often hangs on the word "primarily."

BF is not the first place I would turn to get advice about the IRS code. You can get yourself into a whole lot more trouble than the savings of using your own money on compression tights.

As you can tell from the excerpt from IRS publication 502, just about anything can be argued to be a medical expense, which also means anything can be argued against it too. Who's going to bring more lawyers to the table, you or the IRS?

I was just wondering if anyone had successfully done this. I'm going to call my own FSA provider and inquire more. I'm not really trying to scam my FSA - it just seems like something that would fit in that grey area (could be argued either way).

Seems like a valid expense but is it really necessary to get $120 compression tights instead of those $20 maternity support hose .

I'm no expert, but if your doctor writes a prescription for them it seems like they would be covered..

Good question, I'm going to have to look into that now..

Thanks,

LB

Are compression tights the clothing equivalent of ceramic bearings ?

I'm not trying to dissuade you from going with this if your doctor prescribes it. I've just seen many people burned by doing what seemed like very reasonable things with their taxes. In the end, you could potentially run into problems far greater than $120 if the IRS gets a bug up their u-no-whats.

I know someone who's insurance paid for their bike fitting (at non-network costs, of course) because their orthopedic surgeon prescribed it for chronic knee pain. That seemed like a pretty good deal.

This was added to section 213(b) for where funds can be used. I beleive this means you can use $1k towards a bike. But NOT sports apparel.

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      • `(iii) for equipment for use in a program (including a self-directed program) of physical exercise or physical activity.

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    • `(B) OVERALL DOLLAR LIMITATION- The aggregate amount treated as qualified sports and fitness expenses with respect to any taxpayer for any taxable year shall not exceed $1,000 ($2,000 in the case of a joint return or a head of household (as defined in section 2(b))).

Take this random and anonymous internet advice for what it is worth to you, but you are 100% correct. In fact, you could use your HSA and more (which would be tax deductible as a medical/health related expense) to cover all your bike related purchases so long as your physician writes you a letter/prescription yearly where it clearly states that in order for you to maintain your healthy current status you must exercise vigorously as done in cycling. He must also state that he recommends cycling specifically noting its cardiovascular, weight control/management/benefits, and muscular benefits. He must also clearly state that in order to do so, you must get appropriate accessories and equipment that includes/covers the activity safely and appropriately. By the way, this includes clothing, parts, tires and other wearable stuff, gym memberships and costs, etc. Racing? multiple wheelsets? Likely not.

Limits of this? Use your judgement and consider how you would defend it if audited.

My physician recommended custom titanium. But I pedal with him frequently.

My HSA paid for my Garmin 305. I figured it was because of the heart rate monitoring function but don't know for sure.

Interesting stuff. Now my gears are turning...

This is a good example of not getting your tax advice on the internet. What was posted here IS NOT TAX LAW. It is part of a proposed bill, H.R. 2105: Personal Health Investment Today Act of 2009. This bill has only been introduced and referred to comittee back in April and has not made any progress since. You can check yourself at: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2105

Remember your Schoolhouse Rock kids, "I'm only a bill, and I'm sitting here on Capital Hill...."

Hey - OP here again - I talked with one of my friends (Rides on a pro team now so his stuff is free).

He said he looked into this. Buying stuff like Skins from athletic apparel companies or whatever might get you flagged by whoever handles your HSA. You are taking a risk and you most likely will have to submit information about the expense and risk it being denied. So buy them - just be ready to have to replace the funds back to your HSA if you get denied.

What he said does work is going directly to a medical supply company that has support clothing (they might not carry athletic brands like skins) - he bought standard medical support tights from them a couple years back several times without issue.

A [non-biking] co-worker bought smokes with his HSA card. Yeah, not the brightest bulb.

If the tights are cleared/on-record with your doc, I don't see why not.