Flexible Spending Accounts: Use It Or Lose It

Flexible Spending Accounts

It’s November (as I write this) and there are just a few weeks left in this year. With the holidays in the mix, this year will be over before you know it. For those of us with health “flexible spending accounts” (FSA) that means there is not a lot of time to use that remaining balance before it goes POOF and magically vanishes into the pockets of the company that manages your account. It’s “use it or lose it” time!

What is it?

These are accounts approved by the IRS to create a way for you to pay for your out-of-pocket health care expenses with pre-tax dollars. That means you ultimately get more health care for your dollar (since Uncle Sam doesn’t take a share- similar to how an IRA works), so it’s a great idea to participate in one of these plans if your employer offers one.

Use it or Lose it

Unfortunately, these plans do have a limitation- the “Use It or Lose It” rule. At the end of your “coverage period” (typically the end of the calendar year) you have not used your entire deposited balance on health-related expenses your money vanishes! Well, sort of… you typically will have a grace period of a few weeks to submit claims, but the expenses typically must have occurred during the calendar year.

What Can You Spend it On?

Well, first of all, you may spend it on acupuncture! According to IRS Publication 969 you are able to use spend the money on any qualified expense as listed in IRS Publication 502. That means acupuncture treatments are qualified. Check out the complete list in Publication 502 if you are unsure if a particular expense is qualified, or check with the company that hosts your FSA.

Other Types of Accounts/Arrangements

There are other kinds of tax-deferred accounts such as HRA (health reimbursement arrangement) and HSA (health savings account) that exist. These work differently than a flexible spending account. One difference is the lack of the “use it or lose it” rule- the money will roll over from year to year. Nevertheless, you should also be able to use these types of accounts to pay for acupuncture as per IRS Publication 969.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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Play Healthy

Play Healthy

What if becoming healthier and making healthy choices could be fun? What if it could become a game- like one with lots of great prizes! Sound fun? Well, welcome to the game!

Creating that very game was the vision of Sarah Taylor. She wanted to create something fun that would have lots of people engaged and making conscious healthy choices every day. So she created a game called A Little Healthy Competition. And boy has it taken off!

When I heard about the game it resonated with me. At Balanced Being Acupuncture empowering people to create health in their bodies is a big part of our mission. I consider it the biggest and most impactful part, actually. So I jumped in the game too.

Sarah has a blog for the game: littlehealthycompetition.blogspot.com The blog is where you can find how to play, sign up, healthy blog posts, health-related discounts for players, and links to all sorts of resources.

The game is already in progress. It’s fine to join late; I did so too too- no big deal. The game runs from 10/11 to 12/5. Hop on and play with us! See you in the game!

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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Live And Raw Foods Workshop

Live And Raw Foods Workshop

“Living” or “raw” foods are a great way to increase the nutritional density of your diet.  In this kind of diet lots of the dietary filler foods such as starches and meats get displaced by flavorful healthy vegetables and fruits with extremely high densities of vitamins and other beneficial nutrients as well as cancer fighting phytochemicals.  Even if you don’t choose to exclusively adopt this type of diet the recipes and techniques you will learn in a workshop such as this will add variety and quality to your diet.

Melissa, the instructor, is my wife so I can personally vouch for the deliciousness of the recipes you’ll be taught and get to try.  She will be putting the emphasis on easy and delicious recipes you will be able to make without exotic kitchen tools.

Time:

Saturday, October 22nd 12:00-2:00pm

Location:

Yoga Garden
101 E. Chatham Street
Suite OM
Apex, NC 27502
(919) 267-9264

Cost: $30

Pre-Registration is REQUIRED for this workshop! Click Here to Register

Instructed by Melissa Lido (The Avocado Queen) accompanied by Margaret Richards

Find out what it means to call foods “live” or “raw” while learning about the physical and spiritual benefits of living and raw foods and how they fit into a yogic diet and lifestyle. Get ideas about how to begin and maintain a living and raw foods way of life and discover recipes that can be easily prepared. Delicious living and raw foods will be served for your dining pleasure!

Register for the Workshop Here

For more recipes and insights on food and life from Melissa check out The Avocado Queen Blog.

To see if acupuncture might be right for you, give us a call at our Durham location or you may call us at 919-228-8448. If you find it easier to make an appointment online, you can simply click here to use our online schedule to set up a free face-to-face consultation.

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