Sika Health Launches Marketplace for Shopping With HSA, FSA Funds

Sika Health has launched a marketplace that makes it easy for consumers to shop at more than 30 health and wellness brands and retailers with Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) funds.

The new Sika Health Marketplace helps consumers understand where they can spend these pre-tax funds on more than 18,000 eligible products, the company said in a Wednesday (Dec. 6) press release.

The marketplace joins an HSA/FSA payment solution that Sika Health already offers to eCommerce merchants, according to the release.

“Our marketplace allows brands and retailers to provide a streamlined process for their customers to shop for HSA/FSA approved products as easy as using a gift card at checkout,” Ami Kumordzie, CEO and founder at Sika Health, said in the release.

By offering this user-friendly online marketplace, Sika Health aims to simplify the process related to spending HSA/FSA funds, according to the press release.

The existing process can be confusing, as evidenced by the fact that 44% of FSA account holders forfeit money every year after expiration due to the complexity, the release said.

To expand the accessibility of products to consumers, Sika Health’s team of regulatory experts work with brands to ensure their offerings are compliant with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines and Special Interest Group for IIAS Standards (SIGIS) eligibility standards, per the release. This reduces the need for individuals to submit manual claims.

“This is particularly important since the end-of-the-year rush to spend pre-tax dollars intensifies,” Kumordzie said in the release. “Our merchants see a spike in sales every time deadlines are near and our secure payment process facilitates this.”

In another recent development in this space, Truemed, a firm that aims to help individuals use their tax-free HSAs or FSAs for healthy food, exercise and supplements, publicly launched in September.

When announcing its launch, Truemed said it partners with health and wellnesss brands to unlock the potential of HSAs and FSAs, which collectively hold an estimated $140 billion.

In March, grocery giant Albertsons Companies partnered with global FinTech giant FIS and healthcare technology company Soda Health to enable consumers to use their health benefits funds on eligible purchases from the grocer’s stores.