dental insurance premiums

[Guest kristinlobell]

I have a general question. I have an employee that is wanting to be reimbursed under the medical fsa for premiums paid to a third party company that is not offered through the employer. Is this an allowable expense?

[Guest b2kates]

insurance premiums are not reimbursable as medical expenses under FSAs.

[Guest llerner]

That is correct. If however the employee was not covered under the non-employer plan, most likely the out of pocket would have been reimburseable under the health care reimbursement plan. For example, if he has a prescription plan because the employer plan does not pay for brands only generic prescriptions, the out of pocket that the EE spends on those brand prescriptions would have been reimburseable. If the employee purchased insurance does not cover 100% of the brand RX, any copays or coinsurance would be reimburseable under the plan but not the premiums paid towards the plan.

[SLuskin]

The plan document may provide for a premium reimbursement account that is not the medical fsa. We have many clients who do not offer dental or vision coverage, and reimburse premiums through this other account to those who have made a separate election for it. The software that we use - DataPath - also provides for this account.

[Guest jashendo]

SLuskin --

Exactly what is the "other account"? You say it is not a FSA, and the insurance in question is not being provided by the employer, so how does it become part of a cafeteria plan? (I am assuming that the reimbursements are being made pre-tax, using employer funds. Am I assuming too much?)