Can I Spend My Medicare Set Aside Video & Transcript

Hi, I'm Johnny Meyer and I'm the Director of Client Services here at Ametros, and I'm here to talk to you today about the most common question that we typically receive: “How can I spend my MSA money?”.

Let's be honest, managing an MSA is nearly impossible. Most injured parties that settle their claims are unaware of the six Medicare requirements mistakes. Mismanaging an MSA can cause all sorts of serious issues such as running out of your funds sooner than expected, or potentially jeopardizing your future Medicare benefits by reporting incorrectly. We want to run through those guidelines to help you better understand how to spend your funds appropriately and to avoid any potential consequences.

First, you want to deposit the funds into a separate interest-bearing account. When an injured party places their funds into their own personal checking or savings account, it can oftentimes be hard to distinguish what funds are spent on MSA items, and everyday purchases - such as groceries versus a doctor. This is why CMS requires you to separate the funds so then when it comes time for the annual reporting, it's easily traceable.

Second, use the funds only for treatment related to the injury. It's common for injured parties to assume that they can just spend their MSA funds on whatever they like, such as Patriots season tickets, a car or even their child's college tuition, but you want to make sure that you're spending your MSA funds on any Medicare-covered items related to your injury.

Third use the funds only for Medicare covered items. Some parties just don't understand what's covered by Medicare. So, if you go on their website, they have a search tool that you can utilize which will tell you what's covered and what's not.

Fourth pay according to the appropriate state fee schedule. Typically, when an injured party settles their claim, they run the risk of having to pay the full retail price for their medical treatment, meaning they could be overpaying for a lot of their medical expenses.

The fifth guideline states that you want to prepare and submit an annual accounting report to CMS. It's important for injured parties to make sure that they're keeping track of every single expense made using their MSA funds and then to also make sure that they're doing the annual reporting to CMS. So, keep track of all your bills and receipts.

The last guideline states that you want to make sure you maintain the line item detail for the duration of your Medicare eligibility. Some of the things that CMS requires you to track are the date and description of the service, the amount paid in the account balance. Our team here at Ametros are experts at ensuring that these injured parties are remaining compliant within Medicare's guidelines and that they're also spending their funds accordingly. Should you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us and we'd be more than happy to help.