Leverage Your FSA, HSA, or HRA for Over-the-Counter Medications & Menstrual Care Products

CARES Act OTC Medication & Feminine Hygiene Product Qualified Medical Expense Changes
One of the lesser-known yet potentially high impact COVID-19 relief measures contained within Congress’ Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act is the ability to use Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Health Savings Account (HSA), or Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) funds again for OTC medications that don’t require a valid prescription. Unfortunately this option was removed back in 2011, except in cases of legally prescribed OTC items; now however it has returned.

Common eligible medications include pain relievers, allergy medication, cough syrups and drops, sleep aids, eye drops, stomach/intestinal remedies, medicinal creams, nasal sprays and decongestants. An easy way to think of it would be treating medicines with active ingredients listed on their product labels as newly eligible. My HSA account of choice, Lively has an exhaustive list of qualified expenses that has recently been updated – common deodorant shampoo soap toilet paper aren’t eligible! I’ve also created my own list of HSA/FSA eligible qualified expenses that Lively manages!

As part of the CARES Act legislation, menstrual care feminine hygiene products such as tampons, pads, liners, cups and sponges are now eligible as qualified medical expenses and you can use tax-advantaged accounts to pay for them. It appears this is the first time these items have ever qualified as such expenses.

You May Also Like

More From Author

+ There are no comments

Add yours