Bouari Clinic’s Medically-Based Weight Loss Programs Covered by Healthcare Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dr. Anthony Wehbe, DO, MBA, Medical Director of the Delaware Valley’s six offices of Bouari Clinic, talks about the effects of Flexible Spending Accounts, or FSAs, on medical services including weight loss programs.

“Of course, any employee with an FSA should check out potential spending in advance with his or her company benefits manager”

“Maybe you are among the many company employees who are able to save ahead for out-of-pocket medical expenses through their employers by contributing pretax money to your own Flexible Spending Account or FSA,” Dr. Wehbe said. “For 2013, most FSAs are offered per employee (not per family) with each contributor able to put aside $2,500. If there are two earners in a family both of whom are offered FSAs through their employers, each would be able to bank $2,500 pre-tax. However, the contribution, whatever its size, may be used for any eligible family member, including children through age 26.

“I understand that FSA dollars may be used for out-of-pocket medical expenses but not for medical insurance premiums. Also, most employers are offering a grace period until March 15, 2013 so contributors can use medical FSA money left over from 2012—an extra, if temporary, boost to a person’s FSA funds. To use FSA dollars for paying medical expenses, such expenses must be accompanied by a letter of medical necessity signed by a physician.

“Of course, any employee with an FSA should check out potential spending in advance with his or her company benefits manager,” Dr. Wehbe added.

Are weight loss programs eligible for FSA funds?

“Conventional ‘diet plans’ are not,” said Dr. Wehbe. “However, the weight loss programs we offer at Bouari Clinic are eligible, because they are medically based, and an individual patient’s weight loss program can be declared by a physician to be medically necessary for the patient’s health and well-being. That’s what makes FSA funds available.”

The recently opened Bouari Clinic medical offices in the Delaware Valley employ the same all-natural concepts and protocols that have helped more than 30,000 people nationwide to lose weight and—most important--to maintain their weight loss.

According to Dr. Wehbe, a New Jersey Top Doc and himself a Bouari Clinic success story, “There’s no surgery. We don’t use specially packaged foods, heavy exercise or unapproved ‘diet pills’ but only FDA-Registered supplements and lifestyle changes under continuous medical supervision on an individual basis. That’s what makes us different, and why our plan works.”

Bouari Clinic can be reached at 866-891-2002 or www.PhilaSlim.com.