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Lasik is an advanced corrective procedure that is helping thousands of Americans every year improve their vision through laser eye surgery. Unfortunately, Lasik is considered an elective procedure by health insurance providers, who generally will not cover the cost. Or if they do, the coverage is, on average, 15-percent or less of the total cost to you.

The procedure typically costs around $2500 per eye. That's a $5000 out-of-pocket expense for what insurance companies a cosmetic surgery. But for anyone who has suffered through the irritations of contact lenses or the frustrations of dealing with eye glasses on a daily basis, the improvements in quality of life that Lasik provides are well worth the cost.

Here are five easy ways you can improve your vision and save on the cost of Lasik, with as little money up front as possible.

1. Flexible Spending Account

Often referred to as a "cafeteria plan" or "flex plan," a flexible spending account is an employer-based benefit that allows you to use pre-tax dollars to pay for medical expenses not covered by your insurance. Participants enroll at the beginning of the plan year, designating a monthly dollar amount they would like to contribute. This money is automatically deducted from their pre-tax earnings each pay period and placed into a separate account. Participants are then reimbursed for medical expenses within the plan's calendar year by submitting a proof of payment to their plan administrator.

Check with the human resources department at your workplace to find out what type of FSA your company may offer.

2. Check With Your Insurance

Although Lasik is considered cosmetic surgery by the majority of health-care providers and may not qualify for coverage under your specific plan, it is worth the effort to do the research to determine if you may qualify for a savings of even 10-percent. Depending upon your situation, there are conditions that qualify for reimbursement coverage such as: an inability to use spectacles or contacts due to physical limitations; refractive errors that are induced by injury or surgery; or myopia greater than 10 diopters.

A 15-minute phone call to your insurance provider is all it takes to find out if you qualify for coverage.

3. Tax Refund

If your household is experiencing a reduced income due to the downturn in the economy -- and experiencing an increase in health care costs -- you may be able to deduct the Lasik procedure as a medical expense. Lasik is an approved medical expense by the U.S. IRS. According to the IRS, if your medical expenses are 7.5 percent of your adjustable gross income or higher, these expenses may be deducted in your year-end tax filing. Since medical deductions are based on your adjusted gross income, not a fixed amount, a decreased income lowers the expense threshold and may work to your advantage. Choosing to have the procedure in a give year, and coupling the cost with other medical expenses, may put you in the 7.5-percent threshold and qualify for the deduction.

4. Free for Military Personnel

The U.S. Army Medical Command approved the Lasik procedure for service members in 2000. Since then, over 35,000 soldiers in eight Army medical centers worldwide have benefited from the procedure. Performed at no-cost to active-duty military personnel, and often times giving priority to service members who are due for deployment, this option is an added bonus to individuals already planning to enlist in the military.

5. No-Interest Credit

Finally, there is the option of the credit card or health credit loan. With improved regulation on ballooning interest rates and hidden fees, and the availability of low- or no-interest financing, choosing to pay for Lasik surgery with a credit card is becoming a lesser evil. Often times payment options include zero interest for 18-24 months, and extended payment plans for 48 or 60 months. Depending on the financing you choose, you could be paying as low as $30 a month for near-perfect vision.

The information in the article is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your physician. We encourage you to discuss any decisions about treatment or care with an appropriate health-care provider.

Find more information on achieving near perfect vision without the need for corrective lenses -- and advice on choosing a Lasik clinic near you -- at Oklahoma Lasik Eye Surgery.

Benefits of flexible spending accounts

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) are one the numerous tax-advantaged financial accounts that are authorized by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). With an FSA, employees may save a portion of their earnings to cover for qualified medical expenses and/or dependent care expenses. As money deducted from an FSA is not subject to payroll taxation, employees have substantial payroll tax savings up to 20% thus lowering their taxable income.

FSAs are classified into:

• Health Care FSA (HCFSA)

The Health Care FSA (HCFSA) covers for qualified medical and health care expenses that are not covered or are partially covered by health, dental or vision insurance or by Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) plan.

Common medical coverage includes: doctors’ fees; hospital services; nursing services; labs fees; long-term care services; acupuncture treatments; alcohol and drug addiction treatments; smoking-cessation programs; vasectomies, hysterectomies and birth control; hearing aids; wheelchairs; guide dogs; crutches; prescription medicines; and insulin.

• Limited Expense Health Care FSA (LEX HCFSA)

The Limited Expense Health Care FSA (LEX HCFSA) covers for qualified dental and vision care expenses that meet the IRS definition of medical care. Only employees who enroll in a Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) plan with a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and a Health Savings Account (HSA) are eligible for LEX HCFSA.

Expenses covered under LEX HCFSA are cleanings, fillings, crowns, and orthodontics for dental care and eyeglasses, contact lenses, refractions and vision correction procedures for vision care.

• Dependent Care FSA (DCFSA)

The Dependent Care FSA (DCFSA) covers for eligible dependent care expenses such as child care for children under 13 years old or day care for elderly parents or anyone who is claim as the employee’s dependent based on physical or mental disability.

Advantages of FSAs

One of the major advantages of medical FSAs is their tax benefits. IRS guidelines allow employees to contribute to FSAs using their pre-tax income. In doing so, they can save on federal and state income taxes as well on their portion of Social Security taxes on the amount they authorize their employer to put in the FSA from withdrawing from their paychecks on an annual basis.

By setting aside a specific amount per year for a medical FSA, the entire amount is immediately available, either on January 1st when the program starts or after the first contribution to the FSA is received by the FSA vendor. The money that the employees contribute is not taxable because IRS considers FSAs as ‘health insurance plans for tax purposes’ and therefore, income received from a health insurance plan is not taxable income. Upon termination of employment, employees are not required to continue contributing to the FSA.

As the taxable income decreases, employees can increase their take-home income. To illustrate the tax benefits of FSAs for employees, we assume that an employee of the company X earns $50,000 for the year and contributes $5,000 to an FSA. By contributing 10% of annual salary to an FSA, the taxable income is reduced to $50,000-$5,000 = $45,000. If the employee pays taxes equal to 30% for the year, then he saves $45,000 x 30% = $1,500. Plus the money contributed to FSA is not subject to taxation when withdrawn provided it is used for qualified medical or dependent-care expenses.

Employers are also favored by the FSAs because they are not required to pay their portion of Social Security taxes which is equal to 7.65% of the taxable income of each employee. To illustrate the tax benefits of FSAs for employers, we assume on the above example that the company X employs 10 people with an annual payroll of $500,000. Normally, employers would pay $500,000 x 7.65% = $38,250 to Social Security taxes. However, with the employees’ contribution to the FSAs that equals $5,000 x 10 = $50,000, the company’s taxable payroll is reduced to $450,000 for the year. The company pays $450,000 x 7.65% = $34,425 to Social Security taxes and saves $38,250 - $34, 425 = $3,825 in annual taxes. This amount combined with the $1,500 tax savings per employee results in a total tax reduction for the company from the FSA equal to $1500 x 10 = $15,000 (for all 10 employees) + $3,825 = $18,285 for the year.

Another major advantage of medical FSAs is that it provides coverage of over-the-counter (OTC) medical products and drugs. Because of that, more and more consumers are expressing their interest in flexible spending accounts, thus considerably expanding the range of FSA-eligible purchases.

Some important considerations

Although flexible spending accounts lower the taxable income of employees who participate in such plans, they also involve a risk to employers because of pre-funding. The amount of money that employers lose because of pre-funding may be partially or more than compensated by the amount of money that is not spent in employees’ FSA accounts by the end of the plan year and grace period.

Most FSA providers require that the receipts of OTC purchases show the complete name of the employee and they also require either manual claims or, submission of receipts after the fact. In the context of substantiation, IRS has recently developed the inventory information approval system (IIAS) that classifies items into eligible and ineligible at point-of-sale covering for automatic debit-card authentication. This makes medical FSAs very attractive for OTC purchases.

About the Author

Christina Pomoni has acquired her MBA Finance from the American College of Greece. Her advanced familiarity with financial statement analysis, capital budgeting and market research has been acquired through her professional career at high-esteemed organizations. As part of her long journey, Christina has served as an Equity Research Associate at Telesis Securities (EFG Eurobank) and a Financial & Investment Advisor at ING Group. Besides, having lived at Chicago, IL, Boca Raton, FL and Paris, France has helped her, not only to be a successful professional, but mostly to see life under a more creative and innovative perspective.

Since 2005, Christina provides high quality writing services to numerous websites and research companies contributing her knowledge and expertise. Her areas of specialization are Business, Finance & Investment, Society, Politics & Culture. She also has a very good knowledge of Entertainment, Health & Fitness and Computers & Technology.

Christina currently designs the website of her own writing company. Believing that knowledge is the road to opportunity and development, her mission is to promote her already established knowledge to a growing number of visitors and to provide high quality writing services to meet the most demanding customer requirements.

fsa debit card can I get reimbursed through other insurance?

My husband and I both have flex spending debit cards through our respective employers. I am under his vision plan and can buy eyeglasses out of network and submit the receipt. When I got my FSA card, the terms state that I agree not to submit receipts to another plan. My question is since it's my husband's insurance and nothing to do with my insurance, can I submit the receipt and get reimbursed? If not, why??

The flex spending accounts are really a tax benefit. Essentially, you're getting an opportunity to pay expenses with pre-tax dollars. Submitting the same expense for re-imbursement twice (to get the same tax break twice) is fraud. Who you're defrauding is the Federal Government. If you think the Federal Government (IRS) won't come after you if they detect the fraud, well, you're wrong.

Ultimately, all the forms and paperwork go to the IRS. While your respective employers won't care and don't have a way to double-check the expenses, the IRS does (since they're getting reports from both parties.)

My advice -- don't do it, even if you think you can get away with it. The better approach is to plan your expenses, and don't over-withhold next year. There isn't a statute of limitations on deliberate tax fraud (so they have plenty of time to figure it out.)

Asian American Journalists Association Names Marketwire Official Newswire
TORONTO--(Marketwire - April 29, 2010) - The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and Marketwire announced today that they have entered into a partnership naming Marketwire AAJA's official wire service. As part of the agreement, Marketwire will sponsor the 21st Annual AAJA National Convention in Los Angeles, August 4 to 7, 2010, and serve as a student sponsor at the AAJA Convention News ...

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