Use It or Lose It: Instacart Launches New Features to Help You Spend Your FSA Funds Before They Expire

It’s that time of the year, where we deck the halls, wrap the gifts and gather with family to enjoy the holiday season. But, before the ball drops and you start tackling those New Year’s resolutions, don’t forget – it’s also Flexible Spending Account (FSA) fund expiration season.

Each year, millions of U.S. households set aside pre-tax dollars with plans to pay for health-related expenses or buy health items throughout the year. For many Americans, every December there is an end-of-year race to make the most of these “use-it-or-lose-it” funds before they expire. It can also be difficult to navigate where and how to use them on short notice. Studies show that more than one-third of people forfeit some or all of their FSA funds each year by missing the deadline, and an estimated $1 billion is expected to be forfeited in 2022. And to add to the complexity, not all FSA funds expire at the end of the year – some health plans have a grace period while others allow you to carry over some unused funds into the following year. 

To help make shopping for FSA and Health Savings Account (HSA) eligible items easier, Instacart has added two new in-app tools designed to make shopping for FSA- and HSA-eligible essentials easier, including:

• FSA and HSA Pop-Up: We’ve aggregated FSA- and HSA-eligible items across Instacart into the “FSA & HSA Shop” to make it easier to discover the many products you can purchase to keep you and your family healthy. The FSA and HSA Pop-Up shop is available on the Instacart homepage with all items delivered from our retail partners.
• FSA and HSA-Eligible Product Tags: We’ve added in-app labels to approximately 40,000 qualifying products to help people more easily identify FSA- and HSA-eligible items as they shop on the Instacart platform. Consumers can search FSA or HSA in the search bar to populate a list of eligible products. 

Following checkout, customers can submit receipts of eligible purchased items to their benefit providers for reimbursement. Instacart does not currently accept FSA or HSA cards as a payment method.

At Instacart, we want everyone to have access to the food and products that help them thrive. These new in-app features are an example of our Instacart Health initiative at work – technologies like product tags and health-focused Pop-Ups can make the shopping experience more seamless, convenient, and connected. We’re committed to continuously creating innovative solutions that help people more easily meet their personal health needs. 

Sarah Mastrorocco

Author

Sarah Mastrorocco is Vice President and General Manager of Health for Instacart. A longtime Instacart veteran and leader, Sarah today oversees Instacart Health, designed to support businesses, nonprofits and consumers across three key areas: Nutrition Security, Making Healthier Choices Easier, and Food as Medicine. Sarah has played an integral role at Instacart since joining as the first member of the company’s business development team in 2014. During her tenure at Instacart, she’s taken on various leadership positions across Business Development, Account Management, and Catalog. Prior to this current role, Sarah oversaw and scaled Instacart’s Pickup business.