<p>I’m not sure this is on the right forum but I thought I’d ask here and maybe I’ll get booted to the better forum!</p>
<p>So, my dh and I totally missed the open enrollment date to sign up for our flexible spending account this year- ugh!! 
</p>
<p>Last year, we set aside $1,250 and quickly burned through that, so we had planned to do around 2K or so for 2013. Our out of pocket medical bills (and we have great insurance) are going to be over $3000 this year.</p>
<p>Is there any other way to get a tax break on our medical? Any way to shuffle some money around to make it work for us?</p>
<p>We are super bummed. :-(</p>
<p>When we spend our money, we just wait for the next year. I understand that sometime it is not possible, but I do not know other options. It happened to us several times maily because of my teeth, many implants.</p>
<p>Next year, the HSA limits are being lowered to $2500(?) I believe, depending on the election results, maybe. </p>
<p>What can be done is to try to get elective high cost things scheduled in one year, as much as possible if there is any chance of getting more than 7% of your AGI in expenses. We did that with my mother, getting all of her dental work, cataract surgery, glasses, elective needs done in one year. She is low income so Uncle Sam ended up paying for a nice piece of her medical bill last year. She owed nearly nothing in taxes. </p>
<p>What I do with HSA is look at it and other insurance benefits as a back to back December/January amount and try to schedule all I can at that time. along with the insurance amounts. For example, I have full dental benefits of $1500 a year. I will be working with my dentist so that I can use to the fullest the $3000 for some expensive procedures in December and January, with HSA amounts also taken into account.</p>
<p>Right. We can do that for some things but not for ongoing things such as my son’s diabetes, depression, and visual impairment. These are “must haves” in terms of medical, and that adds up.</p>
<p>We did get sacked with some larger than usual situations (physical therapy for me, several physicals that weren’t covered by insurance, must-have dental work for youngest) this year. I’m hoping next year will be a little better.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo, you must have a very early Open Enrollment for your benefits. Most companies enroll people in the last week of October and the first week of November, or even later. Are you sure you missed the cutoff?</p>
<p>I do lots of December/January. Implants are $4k each any more.</p>
<p>Yes, can you believe it? Sept. 17-Oct 5 was the enrollment period. Dh and I are sure it used to go later/be longer. I called this morning just to beg my case but of course they said enrollment is closed. We had the paper taped to our wall so that we would remember to call. Sigh… </p>
<p>Is there any bright side? :-)</p>
<p>You can check to see if you qualify for a Health Savings Account - which means you have a “high deductible” health plan. Not the best; it’s a savings account so you can only spend what’s in it not take out a large amount and have that covered over time. But otherwise …</p>
<p>Do you both work? Do you both work at the same company? If you work at different companies, it doesn’t matter which company you put your FSA dollars in.</p>
<p>FYI: If you have a life event, you are allowed to change your FSA deduction (up or down).</p>
<p>FYI2: I think if you have an FSA, you are not likely to qualify for HSA.</p>
<p>Well, you could spend over 7.5% of your AGI so you can claim it as a deduction in your 2012 tax return presuming you itemize your deductions. For example, if your combined AGI is $100k then you can incur more medical expenses so it totals over $7,500. Our accountant does our taxes but I think Im correct with the numbers. Perhaps you need new eyeglasses, contact lenses, surgery to remove a bone spur thats been bothering you but youve been putting off?</p>
<p>VH…in our school district, the open enrollment period for FSA is May 15 to June 15. </p>
<p>To the OP…any chance you can defer some of these medical expenses until next year?</p>
<p>I definitely think we’ll try to defer unnecessary medical expenses to the following year. We did have some extras this year (forgot about the continuous glucose monitor, as well), so hopefully, next year will be a more “normal” year.</p>
<p>My dh is a driver and we have outstanding benefits (PPO with 10% co-pay, for which I thank God for often). We just have several children with special health needs and dh and I had some physical problems this year.</p>
<p>I have worked very, very part time for many years as a dancer/choreographer/teacher but due to physical limitations, I have pulled out of that for now. In my former life I was a deaf ed teacher but my dh makes better money than I ever could have since I don’t have a masters. I stay home and homeschool my remaining two children, but I am currently trying to do college application consulting and I also plan to teach ASL again.</p>
<p>We don’t hit 7.5% in a normal year. Even this year’s costs will only be about 5-6% of dh’s income, but we’ll see what happens by the end of the year. I don’t see us hitting 5k in out of pocket costs, though.</p>
<p>I guess we’ll just tighten our belts and hold off unnecessary stuff until the following year.</p>
<p>Appreciate the thoughts!</p>