NCPA announces new FSA service

NEW YORK There are a number of conclusions you can glean from the NCPA’s announcement, which runs counter to a Senate proposal to remove over-the-counter medicines as reimbursable expenses under flexible spending accounts/health savings accounts as a way to help pay for healthcare reform.

For example, Finpago helped quantify the value of that FSA customer. If the average pharmacy sells more than $60,000 per year in OTC products under an FSA plan, then industry wide, that means retail pharmacy captures some  $3.3 billion in FSA-related sales per year.

Pair that sales figure with the fact that 14.8% of American households have an FSA account (National Center for Health Statistics) and you get 16.5 million families saving pre-tax income dollars on some $3.3 billion in sales across more than 55,000 retail pharmacy outlets. That’s a burgeoning market of some consequence. And it’s a health benefit that has been utilized at greater rates thanks both to the inclusion of OTCs and the convenience of FSA debit cards.