How Mariana Tek customers can help members save on fees with their HSA/FSA

Key Points:

1. Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) are tax-advantaged savings accounts used to pay for qualified medical expenses.
2. Fitness fees do not automatically qualify as medical expenses that can be paid with HSA/FSA funds. To have such fees reimbursed by HSA/FSA funds, patients must get a Letter of Medical Necessity from a licensed provider detailing how exercise prevents or treats their medical condition.
3. Dr. B is a telehealth provider that offers a convenient $15 online consultation that may help qualifying members get a Letter of Medical Necessity online. If a licensed provider finds the patient eligible, they email the patient’s letter within hours. The patient can then file the letter and new fitness receipts to their HSA/FSA administrator for reimbursement.

Xplor Mariana Tek has teamed up with Dr. B to bring significant benefits to your studio!

Members of participating studios using the Xplor Mariana Tek platform can now take a seamless $15 online health fitness consultation. If a licensed provider confirms that exercise helps to prevent or treat their condition, they’ll receive a Letter of Medical Necessity via email to unlock their HSA/FSA funds. They can then use those pre-tax funds to pay for fitness memberships and classes, including barre, Pilates, HIIT, personal training and more. The ability to pay for workouts with pre-tax dollars maximizes value, saving them up to 40% in costs.

Read on to learn exactly how your members can save big using their Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA) at your studio.

What is an HSA/FSA account?

Health Savings and Flexible Spending accounts are two kinds of tax-advantaged savings accounts. With both, members can deposit income into the account and use those funds to pay for qualified medical expenses.

Members won’t pay income tax on the funds used from that account. Depending on how much of that money would have counted towards their yearly taxable income (determined by their tax bracket), they could save 20-40% off medical purchases made with HSA/FSA funds.

HSAs are available to those with a high-deductible health insurance plan. Employers must offer FSAs as a health benefit program. Learn more about how HSAs and FSAs work in this Dr. B article.

How can HSA/FSAs be used for fitness expenses?

Exercise fees are only HSA/FSA-eligible if exercise helps prevent or treat a medical condition.

Qualifying medical conditions include:

• Arthritis
• Autoimmune disease
• Back pain
• Balance and coordination issues
• Cancer
• Cognitive decline disorders like dementia and Alzheimer’s
• Diabetes
• Erectile dysfunction
• Fatty liver disease
• Fibromyalgia
• Gout
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Kidney disease
• Mental health conditions like depression + anxiety
• Migraines
• Myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome
• Obesity + heavier weight
• Osteoporosis
• Polycystic ovary syndrome
• Pre-diabetes  
• Physical injury
• Respiratory diseases
• Sleep disorders
• Stroke

Exercise fees related to medical conditions do not automatically qualify as expenses that can be paid for or reimbursed by HSA/FSA funds.

To get them approved by HSA/FSA administrators, a doctor or other licensed medical provider must write a Letter of Medical Necessity (LMN) detailing how exercise treats the patient’s medical condition. Only then can they file fitness receipts with their administrator and have the cost reimbursed by their HSA/FSA account.

How does Dr. B help members save on fitness fees?

Until Dr. B, patients had to schedule an in-person doctor visit to get their Letter of Medical Necessity. This inconvenience could require a copay or out-of-pocket medical fee, lost wages, childcare costs, and transportation fees—making it so that they’d not end up saving on their fitness fees in the end.

Dr. B’s online platform uses a convenient chat-like interface. Patients can start their consultation from anywhere in the United States and complete it immediately or within hours or days. Our chat consults are just $15—cheaper than most doctor copays and the lowest among telehealth providers.

How to use Dr. B + Xplor for your gym or studio

To make it easier for your members to unlock their HSA/FSA funds for fitness, Dr. B has officially teamed with Xplor Mariana Tek.

Here’s how the program works:

1. Connect with Dr. B: To opt in to have a partner site and onboarding kit created, fill out this form or email partners@hidrb.com and request more information.
2. Connect your members: Direct members to your partner site to start a $15 online fitness consultation—no video or scheduling required. If you’re an Xplor Built-For-You monthly subscriber, ask your consultant in your next 1:1 meeting for automation templates that can help you market and promote this convenient service to your clients and members!
3. Sit back + watch them save! Qualifying members can submit their Letter of Medical Necessity and new studio receipts to their HSA or FSA administrator for reimbursement.

How much can your members save with HSA/FSA funds?

When your members submit their Letter of Medical Necessity and receipts to their HSA/FSA administrator, they’ll most likely get the entire cost of their purchase reimbursed from their banked funds. How much they’ll save on their total purchase depends on their tax bracket.

Because they won’t pay income tax on any money they put into their HSA or FSA, the savings come from the additional funds they would have paid in income tax at the end of the year. Most people save 20-40% off medical purchases when they use their tax-free funds. Letters are valid for one year and can be resubmitted with receipts for membership renewals or other purchases throughout that time.