Coalition Urges Congress to Raise the Annual Flexible Spending Cap
Concerned that out-of-pocket costs are preventing patients from seeking care, dental advocates are urging the U.S. House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee to increase the annual Flexible Spending Account cap.
Concerned that out-of-pocket costs are preventing patients from seeking care, dental advocates are urging the U.S. House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee to increase the annual Flexible Spending Account (FSA) cap from $2550 to $5000 per year. An FSA is a tax-free spending account — usually funded through automatic contributions at work — that patients use to pay health care bills.
In a letter from the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons that was cosigned by the American Dental Association and nine other groups comprising the Organized Dentistry Coalition, the association argues that the present cap is too low, which is forcing some patients to forego dental treatment. In fact, according to the 2015 Milliman Medical Index, consumers spent an average of $4065 out of pocket on health care in 2015. “Procedures such as dental implants, a set of braces, a root canal, or even the extraction of an abscessed tooth require out-of-pocket spending,” the coalition letter states. “We are forcing patients to make critical health care decisions based on what they can afford, not on what is medically necessary.”
From Decisions in Dentistry. July 2016;1(09):10.
