If you just got your first HSA, you’re probably wondering what ‘qualified medical expenses’ you can now purchase with your HSA balance. The truth is, most people who’ve had an HSA for years still don’t know everything they can buy with their HSA funds. If you have a Thatch HSA you’re in luck, because you can text us anytime to ask if a purchase is HSA-qualified.

Taking a step back, if you’re still wondering exactly what an HSA is and how it works, here are the basics. Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are personal savings accounts that can be used to save money on medical expenses. HSAs are considered triple-tax advantaged because the contributions you make to your HSA are tax deductible, the interest you earn by investing your HSA balance is tax-deferred, and your withdrawals from the account are tax-free — as long as they’re used to pay for the qualified healthcare expenses we cover in this article. To learn more about how HSAs work, including eligibility and contribution limits, check out our overview here.

When can I incur an expense for it to be HSA-eligible?

Expenses that you incur before your HSA is established are not considered qualified medical expenses. The date an expense is incurred refers to the date that it is paid for, so in some cases you could have a service or appointment occur prior to opening your HSA, but as long as you pay for it after your HSA is established, that expense would be HSA eligible. To know with certainty whether an expense is HSA eligible, it’s important to understand when your HSA is considered established, which is determined by state law. The IRS covers expense eligibility in more detail.

Whose expenses can I use my HSA for?

While your insurance coverage has an impact on your HSA contributions, it doesn’t impact distributions or whose expenses you can reimburse with your HSA. Even if you have self-only coverage, qualified medical expenses can be incurred by the following people:

1. You
2. Your spouse
3. Dependents claimed on your tax return
4. Anyone you could have claimed as a dependent on your tax return unless:

What are 2023 HSA eligible expenses?

There are likely things you didn’t even know you could be saving money on by purchasing with your HSA! The IRS’s Publication 502 has the most accurate list of HSA eligible expenses.

Save money by learning about HSA qualified expenses

You could be saving 30-40% on all healthcare expenses just by using your HSA for qualified purchases. Even if you don’t take distributions as your expenses incur, you can save your receipts for eligible purchases and reimburse yourself later. At Thatch, we make everything about using your HSA effortless. Get in touch to learn how we make it easy to check if purchases are HSA eligible on-the-go and store all your receipts in one place.