Common Claims FAQs

1. Isn’t Olympia Benefits Inc. an insurance company?
   No. Olympia administers an employer-sponsored Health Spending Account. There is no insurance carrier.
2. Do I need to keep copies of my medical receipts?
   Yes. We recommend that you keep copies of all medical receipts for 10 years; keep copies of receipts you submit with paper claims and keep the originals of receipts supporting any claims filed online. If your online claim is selected for audit, you will need to supply receipts and any supporting documentation so we can verify the online claim information.
3. If I lose my medical receipt, can I use a copy of my credit card receipt or cash register receipt instead?
   No. Olympia needs to see the details of the service you received to ensure its eligibility; payment receipts alone don’t provide sufficient information. If you lose a receipt, contact the provider (ie: the medical practitioner) and obtain another receipt from them.
4. If I have expenses in a plan year totaling more than my annual benefit amount, can I save my receipts and submit them next year?
   No. Claims are processed by the date they were incurred, not the date they are submitted, so if an expense was incurred during a year when you have no more available benefit, it will not be eligible for reimbursement. Olympia’s Plan allows only for the carry-forward of unused benefits, not unclaimed receipts.
5. How far back can my medical receipts go to still be eligible? 
   You can make a claim for a medical expense that was incurred anytime in the previous plan year depending on the claim period after year end as determined by your employer, and provided you have a sufficient amount of benefit available in the plan year in which the expense was incurred. If your employer has established a claim period after year end of 30 days, this means that you have 30 days after the end of your plan year to claim items that were incurred in the previous year. Keep in mind that all claims are processed according to the service date on the receipt; even if you submit a claim in the current plan year that was incurred in the previous plan year, it may still be rejected if you have exhausted all of your available benefit allotment for the year in which you had the medical expense. You cannot make a claim for any expense that was incurred prior to the date you became eligible for the Plan. If your receipt is dated prior to your plan eligibility date, it will be rejected because at the time you incurred the expense, you were not eligible for the Plan.
6. My Olympia plan reimbursed me for my medical expenses. Can I claim those expenses again as a medical tax credit on my personal income tax?
   No. You can only receive a benefit for the same expense once.