FSA

9 Gifts of Health You Can Buy with Your FSA

The holiday season can be stressful and expensive so one way to alleviate both of these issues is to look to your Flexible Spending Account. These accounts allow you to set aside pretax dollars to be used for out-of-pocket healthcare costs and these monies must be spent on eligible healthcare products during the plan year or that money disappears. This holiday season if you have funds left in your FSA account then it is time to take stress and expense out of gift giving. Smart, frugal consumers spend the money they have set aside every year in their FSA on gifts for family members, as long as they meet FSA guidelines. This holiday season get the most out of your FSA and incorporate gifts of eligible health products for your loved ones that need them.

Be the Best Gift Giver Ever

The saying is “get them something they wouldn’t get for themselves” when it comes to looking for holiday gifts. This time of year everyone starts their wish list for the holidays and many times healthcare gets overlooked. A lot of FSA eligible medical supplies can make our parents' quality of life better or even allow them to maintain their independence. Medical supplies or aids for dependent children and even our elderly parents may be eligible and are thoughtful gifts for the holidays. Some great gift ideas include:

1. Pressure Monitor

One way to ensure our loved ones continued good health is to provide the correct tools for monitoring our own health. High blood pressure is an increasingly all too common issue in our country and being able to monitor your own blood pressure can help our family stay healthy. One thoughtful gift is a blood pressure monitor/kit. Simply slip on the sleeve and press the button to get quick, simple and accurate readings. For those that have diminished dexterity, maybe a wrist blood pressure monitor could be the perfect holiday gift.

2. Be Proactive

A great way to stay healthy is to maintain a healthy weight. With holiday parties and our tendency to overindulge, keeping an eye on our weight is important and the gift of a scale or even one that incorporates a body fat scale/monitor allows us to help our loved ones avoid unwanted weight gain. It’s much easier to never gain the weight than having to lose it!! Avoid those New Year’s resolutions we never keep. A weighing scale would be an extremely useful addition to your college aged kids dorm room or your teenagers room too.

3. Great Rate

As we age, the risk of cardiac events can increase, so the ability to monitor our heart rate can be crucial. Give the gift of a heart rate monitor or a pedometer to help track and monitor family member’s exercise routines. This can help our dependent children and aging parents continue a healthy lifestyle and avoid health issues down the road.

4. Get a Lift

A variety of causes can make standing from a seated position difficult. The ability to safely and securely stand up from sitting can often be overlooked. A lift assist recliner chair can help those with impaired mobility or someone who just needs a little help getting to their feet stand up from a seated position. These lift chairs gently and smoothly help the user to a standing position when they need to get out of the chair.

5. Mobility Gifts

Our independence and mobility directly impacts our quality of life and sometimes is dependent upon mobility aids such as walkers, canes, or other devices designed to keep us mobile. Mobility aids are designed to enhance an individual's lifestyle by enabling them to move freely, indoors and outdoors, hassle free. The Drive Nitro Euro-Style Tall Aluminum Four Wheel Rollator eliminates the need to lift the device and allows walking with an easy, smooth gait. It is designed for those who want unmatched value along with proven comfort and convenience. You can also opt for a mobility accessory such as the Rolyan Walker Splint is made up from polyform splinting material with a Kushionflex pad and includes straps. It can easily be adapted with a heat gun or hot water. Rolyan Walker Splint helps people with a weak grip hold onto a walker handle.

6. Mobility Accessories

A thoughtful FSA eligible item to gift our family members can be accessories for mobility aids. For instance, a wheelchair cane holder can easily allow our loved ones the ability to simply click their cane to the frame of their wheelchair or walker. Another great gift is a walker basket which can allow for the safe, hands-free carrying of small items such as magazines.

7. Overcome Bad Weather

The holiday season does happen to run concurrent with inclement weather and traversing icy patches can be dangerous. One thoughtful gift is a cane ice grip that simply attaches to the bottom of your loved ones cane and allows for added safety over those treacherous icy patches. Another way to give a great gift to ensure stability over treacherous ground is the gift of a quad cane. This added stability can overcome dangerous, slippery areas for our loved ones.

8. Incontinence Solutions

When it comes to gifting for the holidays probably no one thinks about giving incontinence/urological products. However using your left over FSA money to buy some much needed discretion items would be much appreciated by the family member who needs them. One thoughtful gift for those who suffer from urological issues is a urinary drainage bag holder. These are designed to conceal the contents of urine drainage bags from public eyes and maintain the dignity of catheterized wheelchair patients. Another great gift idea for those who may be self conscious about their incontinence is leg bag holder undergarments. These are worn underneath clothing and prevent urine leg bags from falling down and creating embarrassing moments. A bedwetting alarm is another gift that a family member would greatly appreciate to battle incontinence. Think outside the box for great incontinence gifts!!

9. Breathe Better

The holiday season unfortunately coincides with some of our colder, drier weather and this can present its own set of issues. With the colder weather comes stuffy noses and drive throats. To combat this, give the gift of a steam inhaler. It can open up airways and make breathing simpler and more comfortable during the cold holiday season. Many children may need to use a nebulizer this time a year and a whimsical pediatric aerosol mask can be a fun way to ensure therapy compliance as well as a cool gift.

 

Gift giving can be a stressful time for some of us, but when a dependent child or elderly parent uses any type of FSA approved medical supply a prudent gift giver can kill two birds with one stone. Not only do we not lose any unspent pretax dollars put aside into a Flexible Spending Account at the end of the year, but helping our family members stay healthy and regain independence or quality-of-life is what the holidays are all about. Thoughtful gifts that help them enjoy life in the world around us can bring a smile to just about everyone face.

 

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