(Guest Lecture): Pulling Together Out of Pocket Cost to Prepare for Your 2021 Tax Filing

if that makes sense. Today's topic is going to be pulling together out-of-pocket costs in order to prepare for our 2021 tax filings. Amid the holidays, doctor's appointments, budgeting for medical bills, and daily life stresses, somehow we are supposed to file our taxes or pay somebody else to do this. Even if you do engage a professional to help file your taxes for the 2021 year, it's important that you are prepared and ultimately responsible for that filing. Here to speak to us today about general advice concerning how we can best prepare is our myeloma financial coach, Diana Valentine. It's my pleasure to introduce her to you. She is a myeloma coach specializing in financial help for multiple myeloma patients. She is a professional financial consultant and a former caregiver of her husband who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Diana perfectly understands the financial issues facing myeloma patients. She has the most giving heart and family is so important to her. I'm excited to have you hear from her today, Diana. The time is now yours. Thank you, Audrey. Thanks to everyone who is participating today. I know it's kind of a shock coming off of the holidays and now you've got to re-transition into regular life. But I hope everybody had a safe holiday and you continue to stay safe. So, again, Audrey and I thought this was a very, very important topic, especially when a lot of changes are coming along with some Medicare changes, as well as costs for drugs. And they're still trying to work on this BBB plan. Hopefully that thing will work out because it's going to be so beneficial to the patients. So this is the things I hope to accomplish with our webinar today. I want to provide general information to you regarding what medical out-of-pocket paid expenses you can claim on your taxes. I also want to provide you with information to gather the documents you will need to file your taxes, review itemizations and deductions that many people forget are unaware that are available to them. And we're also going to talk about credits, how credits and itemizations and everything work. And I will also be covering the tax information dealing with medically related expenses surrounding your health. So to understand how other items that you can deduct or itemize on your taxes, please consult with a tax professional. I am not a tax professional. I do work on the outer phrase with taxes when it comes to finances, but I do not give tax advice. What I will not do is provide tax advice. I suggest you seek advice from a tax professional. This webinar is for informational purposes only, and we're going to, again, put information around the cost of health care. So to itemize or not, so there's things you need to consider. Some of the possible options you can look at before you actually file it, push that button or have your tax advisor push that button is to do some comparisons, filing jointly or separately, how this can make a huge difference in reducing your tax liability. A lot of people forget to do this. Sometimes, even if you have two people in the house, you have two people in the house, so it might be to your advantage to file individually in the house. So you may end up with less tax liability or more money in your pocket. Although it may require a lot more time and legwork, you may see a bigger reduction on your tax liability. So will your standard deduction be higher than your itemized deductions? That's something you need to always be questioning. If your standard deduction for individual or for a couple of spouse, husband, a spouse is going to be higher than your itemized deduction, then leave those itemized deductions alone. So deductions versus credits. So deductions are what will actually reduce your taxable income and generally arise from your expenses. There are two different types of kinds of deductions, and these would include common adjustments, such as contributions to your IRAs, health savings accounts and interest paid on student loans. So this deduction can be used regardless of whether you use your standard deduction or your itemized deduction. Another deduction of this type is a standard deduction based on your filing status, whether you're filing as head of household, joint or individual. And those adjustments amounts will vary. Adjustments to income are always valuable because it reduces your tax liability. So deductions versus credit again, itemized deductions. And this is a big area where you're going to look at your medical expenses. They're only valuable, again, to the extent they exceed your standard deduction. These deductions would include your charitable expenses, interest on home mortgage and medical dental expenses, things like that. Credits. Credits reduce your tax liability directly, as opposed to reducing your taxable income, making it more valuable than a deduction of the same amount. For example, the economic income impact payments that came to households that had young children, some of those were, I think, three thousand to thirty to fifty or thirty five hundred per child under a certain age. Those are actually to be credits. They are very, very valuable because it comes directly off of your your income. So the economic impact payments and claiming the recovery rebate credit and the child tax credit. So here's a big thing you guys may be interested in. These are this is where you're going to get the big bang for your buck if you're spending a lot of out of pocket for your medical expenses. So the pharmacy patient assistant programs help pay for prescriptions that are too expensive for the uninsured or underinsured for private and federally insured with Medicare income and other qualifying event based on assistance on the assistance provider. Nonprofit organizations such as LLS, Healthwell, Patient Advocacy Foundation, Cancer Net, all of the things you may be aware of. So in addition, there's state benefit assistance programs. All states have some type of assistance that you may be aware of. Other states have a more expanded assistance programs. And if you have not heard of those, I would definitely go online and look at those if you're really stressing about upcoming cost of some of your medical care, because there are some great benefits out there based on your state. The financial assistance is not taxable and not deductible on your taxes. Additionally, the assistance you receive is not counted towards your deductible. So this is very important. A lot of people don't understand that. Let's just say you went to the Leuquim and Lefoma Society and they gave you an eleven thousand dollar grant for the year. So that eleven thousand dollars does not reduce your deductible that's required for your medical or your pharmacy care. So that deductible will continue to hang out there until the end of the year. So you actually from your own pocket, you pay for those deductible, pay those deductibles out of your pocket. The other things are just basically grants to help you with co-pays and out of pockets and things like that. Next slide. So medical expense deductions, thresholds to acquire for the medical deductions. You must itemize to write off your medical expenses. You can't do that under the standard deduction. You have to itemize. Deductible only after they exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. So not your gross income, your adjusted gross income. Your adjusted gross is generally lower than your actual income because you have these other things that come off. For example, if your adjusted gross income is sixty five thousand, then the first four thousand eight hundred seventy five, or you take a sixty five thousand by point zero seven five of your un-reimbursed medical expenses does not count. So you have to pay that four thousand eight seventy five out of your pocket. Anything above that four thousand seven eighty five that you pay, that is actually going to be itemized as a medical expense. Again, it may seem like a lot more work if your medical expenses are high or your adjusted gross income is low, perhaps due to low taxable retirement income or being out of work for part of the year. Just as a lot of people were out of work last year. This may be a perfect opportunity and a combination and combination for deducting medical expenses. This past year has been unprecedented. You know, there's a lot of people lost their jobs. People quit or didn't go into work, especially people who have compromised immune systems and they find themselves working for home or taking time off. This is a great time to look at that. If you've only did your standard deduction, you may want to review this for this year. They can run both options, your tax professional, and they decide which one is best for you. So there are state thresholds for medical expense deduction. Be aware that your state may have a different threshold for the adjusted gross income. It may be lower, which could help you qualify and save you even more money. Additionally, in some states, you may not get a break on the federal income taxes, but you may get a break on your state taxes. So be aware of those things. You can find out the specifics of your state threshold at the IRS dot gov website. Health savings accounts, medical savings accounts and flexible spending account distributions. So these can be kind of confusing, but it's very important for you guys to look at this because this will also reduce your taxable liability or the income that you actually report. Health savings accounts, HSAs and MSAs, medical savings account or ARCHER medical savings accounts, are very important for you guys to look at. So if you're looking at the medical savings accounts, or ARCHER medical savings accounts are available to high deductible health plan participants and are established for paying medical expenses. Their benefits will include that you can establish the plan and most anyone can contribute to these plans on behalf of the beneficiary. The money is in the account and it grows tax free. Withdrawals for qualifying medical expenses are not subject to income tax. So for all of you out there who are and it's going to be me included, everybody, because the older you get, the more medical expenses you have. If you can participate in a health health savings account or a MSA right now and continue to almost like a savings account, you throw money in that it is going to really help you pay for co-pays, deductibles, increasing out of pocket costs down the road. So please be aware of how these work. And and additionally, when you take it out, you don't have to pay taxes on it. And it grows tax free. It's a great benefit for helping offset a lot of those medical expenses that you're incurring now and that you may incur in the future. OK, FSAs, flexible spending accounts, these are ones that people are most familiar with. They do not require a high deduction health plan for participation. And in some places you can participate in an FSA, even if you do not participate in the employer health care plan. Participate, you participate through payroll deduction, which with contributions that can be made by both your employer or employee or the employee salary diverted into the FSA, then use or then used to pay medical bills. Usually you'll get a medical bill, you pay it and you'll send your your receipt in back into the company, their your benefits department, whoever handles that. And they will refund that money to you. This money escapes both income and Social Security taxes. It's a great opportunity to use things, although there is not a legal limit on contributions. Most companies companies will limit their contributions to five thousand or less per year. And generally that's running the average, as I think is about two thousand seven hundred fifty that the actual companies will allow you to participate in. You know, because there's a lot to do with the Social Security benefits and all those things. So they want to make sure that they are able to manage everything on their end. Again, if you do not use that flexible spending account for expenses in that particular year, you have a couple of months into the following year to send in those receipts so you can get reimbursed for that. Then you will lose that money in there. So it's very important to sit down and decide how much you want to save into the flexible spending account and not over save. We're going to lose that money at the end of the year. Next slide. So an example of how how a flexible spending account contribution can be beneficial. Let's say you set aside three thousand dollars a year in FSA, and that's generally pulled out per pay period of your whoever, however, your employer pays. It avoids being taxed as income. It comes out. It comes out free tax. It also avoids the seven point six Social Security and Medicare tax. If your tax rate is twenty five percent, you would save more than nine hundred fifty dollars. If you include a six percent state tax, the savings would be over eleven hundred. So there is a lot of savings to be looking at looking at as a flexible spending account. Let's say perhaps you're both you and your spouse. What has a flexible spending account and you have a high deductible if you have completely different plans, then one person can do a medical savings account. The other person can do a flexible savings account. So work together to figure out how those are best. I mean, best beneficial to you. I mean, best beneficial to you. So payments to doctors, other medical expenses, you can deduct. These are going to be really interesting. And I would encourage everyone, whenever you go to the doctor and you make that copay, get receipts, sometimes you just give it to them and they don't give you a receipt. They say, go to my chart and you can't pull up some of your things from my chart, but not all. I would suggest you get receipts because you're going to need receipts in order to know how much you're going to deduct on your exemptions. So payments to doctors, dentists, surgeons, psychiatrists, psychologists, chiropractors, physical therapists and other medical practitioners. If you're going to a doctor, occupational therapist, all those people. Hospital and nursing home care, acupuncture. Unsurprisingly, I was surprised that was there. Addiction programs, including smoking cessation programs, inpatient care, weight loss programs for doctor diagnosed diseases like diabetes. But gym fees or weight loss supplements are not included. However, if you were to get have surgery or have a medically supervised weight loss program because of a medical diagnosis, then a lot of those things can also be deducted on your taxes. Admission and transportation to medical conferences about diseases such as our big programs that we have through myeloma crowd. These diseases about you, your spouse or your dependents. Meals and lodging are not included, so you can deduct a lot of things. So if you go to some of the roundtables, that trip and that cost is deductible. Next slide. Dentures, reading or prescription glasses, especially if you're paying more out of pocket for those, if you do not have a prescription or a hearing program through your insurance. Hearing aids, crutches, wheelchairs and service animals. That includes the care of that service animal, any veterinarian trips or everything as well. Transportation to and from medical care. If you have to go out of out of state or out of your city to travel for see your specialist, all of those things are included. Keep the copies of all your calls that includes travel, gas, all of those things. Keep those things. You'll be surprised at how fast those things add up. Insurance premiums for medical care or long term care insurance, if they're not paid by your employer and you pay out of pocket after taxes. So some of these things may include if you were to go into a to a nursing home for rehabilitation and and you're paying some of that out of pocket for that cost, keep those receipts because that could be very expensive. Face mask, another big thing that's come up this past year or two. Face mask and other personal protective equipment to prevent the spread of COVID-19. That includes hand sanitizer, sanitizing wipes for primary use of preventing the spread of COVID-19. Very important. I know I bought a lot of masks, all kinds, all kinds of masks. And finally settled on the N95. And as you know, these things are expensive. So keep copies of all of your receipts for these things. Additionally, don't keep them in your car. This is something I found out. Those those the paper they use at registers and everything, they will fade. Get them and make a copy of them on regular paper. They will not fade. But the other little receipts, they'll fade. I don't know if they've intentionally done this. I don't know. I don't know if it's just conspiracy out there. You know, my son and I would like to think that that's probably the case. But keep those receipts out of out of the sun and actually make copy on regular paper so you can see those within a year. Next slide. Some other important medical expenses and deductions would be your Medicare. If you are not covered under Social Security or were not a government employee who paid Medicare tax, you can voluntary enroll in Medicare Part A. These premiums are deductible as a medical expense. A lot of people forget those Medicare Part B as a supplemental medical insurance. Premiums you pay for Medicare Part B is a deductible medical expense. You see how these things add up? You just kind of keep looking at these things and see how they add up. The next slide. Medicare Part D, the Medicare Part D is going to be for your for your prescriptions. This is a volunteer prescription plan for persons with Medicare Part A and B. Therefore, the premiums for Part D is deductible as a medical expense. Prepaid insurance premiums. Premiums pay before you reach age of 65 for insurance, for medical care, for yourself, your spouse or your dependents. After you reach age, 65 are medical expenses in the year. They are paid if they are. Next slide. Payable and equally equal yearly installments or more often and payable for at least 10 years or until you reach age 65, but not for less than five years. Very few people participate in these prepaid medical plans. So it would not probably wouldn't come come in to play for you, but some people do. So it's important to know about them. Disability insurance payments, if the premiums for the policy is paid by your employer, then the income payments are taxable. Sometimes employers will split the cost between you and them. And part of that may be taxed, may be taxed and the other you may be able to write off. If you pay the premiums with after tax dollars, that the income payments to you are tax free. And that's why it's always important to get a disability program outside of your employer, because your tax, your disability through your employer is going to be taxed. That could be 40 percent of what you may end up at home with 40 percent of your income, because your disability will pay maybe 60 percent and then that's actually maybe 66. And then that is going to be taxed at your regular income tax rate. So you end up coming home with a lot less. So if anyone out there can get a disability program on outside of them, maybe not if the person who has myeloma, but perhaps your spouse. It's a great option to look at. Next slide. The amounts paid for personal protective equipment are also eligible to be paid or reimbursed under health flexible spending accounts, medical savings accounts or the Archer account and health HRAs and HSAs flexible savings accounts, medical savings account, health reimbursement arrangements and health savings accounts. That's what those stand for. Taking withdrawals from retirement plans before your retirement age will trigger a taxable event under age 59 and a half. The 10 percent penalty for early withdrawal is waived to the extent you have qualified medical expenses greater than the seven point five percent of your adjusted gross income. And remember that adjusted gross income may vary by state. All withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income. So if you are in a 28, 29, 30, 32 percent taxable income, that is how that's going to be decided based on your income tax rate. Next slide. So gathering, supporting documents. And I mentioned before what's very, very important for everyone to do is to keep copies of all of your receipts, all the receipts. You go to every doctor, every eye appointment, when you travel for medical care, your gas receipts, all of those things. Keep a copy of everything. I would keep a a black black folder or black box in your car to put those things in so you can take them and take them out of your car. But I would keep all those things together. So you'll just automatically, by habit, drop those things into this black box. I use black box because you won't have the sun penetrating and you don't want to fade for any period of time. So ask your pharmacy medical provider for a list of paid receipts for the year. So you can go to your pharmacy. They'll pay. They'll give you out everything. You go to a specialty pharmacy, several pharmacies, get a copy of all of those things. Your doctor can provide those. Or you may be able to find some of it on your my charts when you have access to your medical care. They'll have receipts that you paid there. Be aware of those things. They if you if you have a running a running balance and you pay toward it, it may look kind of weird. So make sure you're getting the accurate accounting of what you've paid. So like I said, keep a folder in your car for receipts, ideally a dark folder that you're going to take out and not leave in a car in the sun and considering paying by credit card for a good record. That way, all you do is call your credit card company and they will send you the receipt for accounting for the year. Be aware I did not list all the medical expenses that may qualify for deductions, only the ones that might be most important to you. Please refer to the IRS dot gov website for all medical expenses, deductibles and other possible deductions, as well as the proper forms to file. So I know this was really quick. And I just want to stay with the medical part. I didn't want to go into, you know, mortgage interest rate, mortgage, mortgage and all these other things. But I wanted you all to be aware of the things that are more pertinent regarding the health. So if we could go into questions now and again, if we don't get very specific to your individual tax things, that would be great. I don't want to fall off the rails here. Have somebody knock on my door saying, Diana, you're giving out advice that you are not qualified to do so. But I would be glad to help you as much as I can. Thank you so much for that presentation, Diana. And thank you for your preparation. I know you work really hard to get these every month. And this one was especially great. I loved the items that you did list that can be deductible as medical expenses. So thank you again for your preparation and for the information that you shared. I love the conspiracy that you and your son have. That's hilarious. And great advice, I think, to just keep those receipts out of the sun. Conspiracy proven or not. We're getting lots of questions, so I'm excited to be able to answer them today. And thank you for leaving time for these. So and they seem to be general. So thank you as well to our audience for asking these general kind of questions. So Clay is wondering for transportation to medical care, can we count for purposes of itemization trips to doctors within our own city? Or does it have to be out of town trips? That's a good question. No, any trips to doctors, no matter where you go in city, out of city, out of state. It doesn't matter. OK, great. Jerry is wondering, are meals covered under medical expenses or are they not? He wasn't sure. Males are not. OK. And if you're traveling, does that matter if you're local or if you're traveling far, for example, for those conferences, if you're traveling, does the meal do the meals count or do they know the meals do not count because they're assuming you're going to be eating anyway. You're there for medical care is all regarding medical care. Yeah. And same with lodging or does lodging count? Lodging can count if you're using that lodging specifically for your medical care. Yes. Keep those receipts. If you go to the same place, I know some people visit their specialist, maybe out of state several times a year, and you can. Get a copy of those things again. The printouts from your front desk and maybe have your doctor sign off on it because you don't want to end up getting audited. They're questioning, oh, did you just go there for an event? Make sure your doctor, your doctor may sign off. Just put their initial on there for your care. Yeah, that's great. Nancy's wondering, is there a per mile rate allowed for deduction? There is a per mile rate, and that is. On the IRS dot gov, I don't want to give you the incorrect amount, but there is a in mile a rate for that. And keep a copy of your how much you're paying for gas or how you I don't know how you're going to itemize that gas or however. I know I've spoken to several people who have one car that they use for long distance versus a nest when they're doing their specialist counselor or travel. So they have those expenses separated. Another thing that's very important, if anybody has an American Express card, American Express will have these different items or different headings where you can keep keep up with a lot of things for tax reasons. That's a great card to use. If you have one, call them to find out what card would be best for you. If if you already have one, it may be a greater change to another card. But they help help you keep up with some of the expenses. You may be able you can download things at the end of the year is a lot easier. Great. Thank you. Taking notes so that we can send it in our resource email that we'll be sending out. So there's a lot of incredible questions here. So let's just start from the top. Jerry's wondering, are cash grants and direct payments to pharmacies from nonprofits like LLS considered income? So you talked a little bit about that in your presentation, but let's go through it one more time. It's very important because a lot of people who receive these grants are concerned about that these they are not considered income. You do not have to report those as income on your taxes again. And it also does not reduce your deductible that you are required to pay for your medical or your prescription expenses. Awesome. Sandra's wondering, are parking costs and medical appointments deductible? Yes, they are, because you have to get to the place and you have to park. So, yes, keep all those parking receipts as well. Now, those may be a little bit more difficult to get. Sometimes you have to get those stamped at your doctor's office. Have them make a copy of it for you, because a lot of times you have to put those things back into the machine and you may lose it. And they will. So, yeah, get a copy of those things as well. If you go to big cities like Chicago and the cost for parking is ridiculous, it could really add up. Yeah, definitely. But he's wondering, again, if Palm List or the copay are covered by a nonprofit, they can't be deductible. So it doesn't work. It cannot be right. And again, if they're traveling, for example, for a stem cell transplant or a CAR T is, oh, he's wondering if pet boarding is covered. If you bring an emotional support animal, if that would be emotional, support animals are covered. A lot of people aren't aware of that. I think I mentioned that briefly in what that is. One of the things support animals are covered. Yes. OK, thank you. Go OK, this one was the implications of grants to taxes again. It is not considered as income. I'm just reading them as we go down. There are repeating ones. So clinical trial that's far away sponsor pays small amount. Can she submit the additional amount not covered by the sponsor as a medical expense? Yes, you can. You can. OK, as long as he has receipts. OK. What about things like a massage chair or things to make you more comfortable in your home with aches and pains of your body? Would those be considered as medically? It is they could be considered if those were recommended and by your doctor. You know, you can go to some of these medical supply stores. They say we'll get a lift for your toilet or something for your house where you need then those things can be written off. However, it has to be something that is advised and written as part of your therapy plan by your doctor. OK, perfect. So is there a way to withdraw from withdraw? Is there a way to withdraw from a 401k or an IRA without penalty? There is for medical expenses, you can. And you have to make sure it is coded right with a person who's going to advise you, who's going to handle those things, because once it's coded, they cannot go back and change it. That's a federal law. But yes, you can take things out for medical expenses. That will not incur the 10 percent penalty. You will be taxed on everything you take out, but you don't have to incur that penalty. Great. Thank you. This is a great example. I won't share her name for privacy reasons, but she says that they live in New York City and do not own a car. Very normal in New York City. They spent six thousand dollars on taxis going to medical appointments. And so how important it is to keep those receipts, to make sure that those are deductible, to use them. You guys know what I'm saying. And she's wondering, in the case of the stem cell transplant, when she as the caregiver goes to visit her husband, are those tax deductibles as she's going to parking and traveling and visiting? That's that's interesting. That's the first time I heard that. I'm not sure, but I can certainly find out and we can post that on that resource or whatever page or additional information we'll get out. I will check that. That's very interesting because I know I followed or followed went back and forth between Chicago and Kentucky when my husband was being cared for in Chicago. And I never even thought about it at the time. But I will certainly look into that. OK, and I'll make a note of that so we don't forget it right now. OK. But thank you for that question. That's a very good question. Yeah, that's great. Even if you are reimbursed by a grant, can it still be claimed? No. OK. You know how, you know, whenever you're dealing with the government, there's one option you have to claim if you have the ability to claim. They're not going to give you multiple options, but no, you cannot. OK. Will you explain the Archer medical account again in more detail? Are there costs to establish it? Is it for only retired people? Very you know, I looked at that and very few people use the Archer medical medical account, but it is. You can establish those sometimes are established so your employer will have an option available to you or you can establish them yourself through there are banks that have those accounts available for you to sign up for. And you would give the information to your employer where money can come out as there or somebody else can make deductions, make contributions on your behalf. Those things, when you take it out, it is not taxable to you as income. It grows tax free. Those are great, great things to look at, to reduce your tax liability for additional costs that are coming up in the future. I'm sorry, what was the question? I want to make sure I answer all of it. No, it's OK. I put it in the. So if there are costs to establish the Archer medical account and if they're only for retired people. They are for retired people and but. From what I understand, there is no cost unless the particular bank or wherever you are getting it may have a they may have a monthly cost, but how that is actually handled through them, because if they take money out of your account to pay for that, it's like a withdrawal from the account. So I would I would I would check with whoever you're going to establish those things through in your state. They may have different laws requiring those. And can you establish and fund an Archer medical account without seeking donations? Yes. OK. Are payments to a house sitter while out of state for a medical procedure tax deductible? No, they're not. Capital One doesn't year in summary. So just like you were saying with the American Express, Capital One also does a year in summary that categorizes expenses, which makes it easy to see all medical in one place available online. I think this is so important. And this is one of the reasons I love our events is this kind of networking that I would have never thought or really, you know, when I get my statements in the mail or online, I'm like, OK, whatever, you know. But I appreciate that these companies are aware that so many of us are in need of this kind of summary and that they are available for us. That that that's encouraging to me. Let's talk one more time about disability payments. This attendee is wondering if state disability payments are taxable. State disability payments are. I believe they are, because that is a that is a benefit to you. You're not paying for those premiums. I just like you have to you're getting like people get unemployment. They have to file that as income is still a federal program. So I believe those things are still taxable to you. Now, how if you were on Social Security at all, I don't know how it would affect your Social Security. OK, that is that is a very good question. I think that's a very good question. OK, that is that is a talk to your tax advisor. Exactly. That's exactly what I'm going to say. It's a great question and one that you should consult a professional tax consultant. Nancy is wondering, is there a way for a retired person on Medicare to establish a tax free account? Well, that's really loaded, Nancy. Good question. A person on welfare on Medicare to establish a tax free account for medical expenses. For what kind of expenses? What kind of tax free account are we talking for? What purpose? Well, this is very complicated when you started talking about tax free accounts, because there are so many anybody can establish a tax free account. But what kind of account are we talking about and for what purposes are we talking? That's broad. We'll wait to wait to see. Is that Nancy B by any chance? Yes, it is. I can hear her. I can hear her talking now whenever. What about tax free accounts for medical expenses? So those are those tax free accounts would be your things like your flexible spending accounts, your health savings account for high deductible accounts. Those will grow. They will. Are your medical savings accounts. Those will grow tax free and come out as well for your medical accounts. For medical expenses. So those are accounts. Yes, you can participate in. OK, and Nancy did confirm yes for medical care. So thanks, Nancy. Well, this is exciting. We do have several more minutes. This has gone by fast, but I feel like we've shared so much information. So thank you again. We do. You know, if there are any more remaining questions out there, we do have a couple more minutes that we can share together. I think I was just really impressed, especially these health savings accounts or flexible spending accounts. I think sometimes our employers or people that are contracted by our employers explain this, but don't go into great detail. And it doesn't seem to have as much value. But when you really look at it and when you really consider the benefits long term, I like how you give examples. I think this is one of this is an incredible benefit that we should be taking advantage of. And I think it's important to educate ourselves. And I'm just, again, so grateful for you and the advice that you share. And there's other financial coaches as well through the My Alarm Coach program that can help. And it's so important to just talk it out, because there might be things that you're missing, like things that I recognize today that I I was probably missing. And there's some other things as well. We'll talk about flexible savings account. There are dependent care accounts. If you have an adult dependent in your care or you have children, minor children where you can take you can have money set aside as well. And generally, the amount the employer will let you set aside is about 20. Twenty seven 50 is the average. They can be up to five thousand. And that comes out, reduces your tax liability because it comes out pre tax. And then you can use those things for additional expenses as well, including summer camps. If your kids are going to summer camps, because that's like a daycare. You're not taking care of. It's the same thing. But there's a lot of benefits that people can have. And I know there are myeloma patients that are young and have very young kids. And so this might be an opportunity for them as well. I did not also mention because it becomes very, very convoluted, very, very complicated of additional programs that a self-employed person has their own business, how those things would work. So, again, talk to your tax professional when it comes to a self-employed person. What kind of write off they have for their medical expenses, if they're paying for medical care, insurance for employees or themselves and what other opportunities we have. That's something I would talk to your tax professional about. Also, thank you. OK, several more questions of port and so this is exciting. So Jerry is seeking a little bit more clarification about which non-employer savings accounts for health expenses Medicare recipients can set up because he was under the impression that they could not create HSAs. They they may be able to set up the HRA, the retirement, the retirement account, not the regular HSA, unless you have. Now, if you have a Medicare program that is a high deductible program, you still can set up an account. OK. If you receive money for lodging and transportation from a sponsor in a clinical trial, is that money taxable? If you receive what? It's money for lodging or transportation during a clinical trial from a sponsor. Is that money taxable? Very good question. From what I understand, it's almost like making you whole. It's almost like they're they're getting a benefit, but they're paying you for a benefit. I am not sure. I will find out about that one. That is a very good question. OK, that's good. That's the first one. That's good. That's the first time I've heard that. And the first time I thought about whether that's going to be taxable or not. Thank you for giving me on my toes. I have a lot more work to do. It's fun. It's fun. All right. Just making that note so we don't forget. This attendee is wondering if Aflac payments can be deducted. I'm not sure what Aflac is. Aflac is a disability program. Oh, OK. Oh. I think we lost her. Let's give her one more minute. Let's while she's jumping back on, I hope the rest of you can hear me. Steve is saying if we are retired on Medicare, can we? Oh, it's a question. I thought it was a statement. Just one minute. OK, so I'm going to go ahead and start the meeting. I'm going to start the meeting. I'm going to start the meeting. So I'll just have you here. OK, it's kind of a janky way to do it, but Diana's power just went off in her house. So we're going to have her on the phone here just to answer these final questions. And then we'll finish up for today. So Diana, thanks for calling in. So can those Aflac payments be deducted? If the Aflac is a disability payment, if Aflac is if you're paying for the premiums that disability product, then you can deducted income comes to you tax free. But if you are getting that through your employer, because employers, some employers have Aflac plans, then no, you cannot do that. OK, perfect. And then Steve was wondering if we are retired on Medicare, can we establish an archer tax free medical account with some of our money? You should be able to do that. But look at the look at the statistics. See what type of medical plan you have. If it's a high deductible, I would look at that again and then find out what your state is allowing. OK, perfect. Thank you, Diana, for joining us today and for being flexible when technology and power doesn't work the way we think it will. So thank you so much, Diana, and we hope you have a great rest of the day. I'll just finish out here with some outro announcements. So thank you. All right. Take care. OK, bye bye. Bye. Bye. All right, everyone, thank you for being patient and flexible with us. I will just finish with a couple of outro announcements and then we will finish. So this is Diana's contact information. I'll make sure to pass that along to you in our resource email that we're going to be sending along with the slides today, along with the recording so that you are able to have that information. I mentioned other financial coaches that you can find on the Myeloma Coach site. I will be including that in the resource email as well. And that should be sent out within 48 hours. You can join us next month as we launch our first ever workshop for the Myeloma Coach chapter. It's nice to hear from Diana and learn from her, but sometimes we need something a little bit more interactive. Diana is going to be joining us next month to coach us through a budgeting workshop. Participate in this workshop and answer ask your questions live. We're excited to try something new and hope that it's beneficial to you and we can't wait to see you there. You may be interested in other Myeloma crowd community events that we have coming up on the 5th at 7 p.m. Eastern is our Muscles for Myeloma Fitness chapter. The chapter lead, Lindley Sweeney, will be coaching us how we can establish smart and feasible exercise goals for the 2022 year to keep us in the best shape possible. On the 6th at 1 p.m. Eastern is our Stem Cell Transplant chapter. We're going to be hearing from two Myeloma patients as they discuss their personal experiences about choosing or denying a stem cell transplant. There is no one right answer. We want all patients to understand and be aware of their options regarding this important decision of whether or not to participate in a stem cell transplant. The 11th at 6.30 p.m. Pacific time will be our SoCal Myeloma Community chapter. Two oncology dietitians will be joining us to discuss how we can eat healthy, again, in a feasible way for this upcoming year. And then finally, on January 12th at 1 p.m. Eastern, we will hear from Rosalyn Height, who's the Myeloma Coach Program Director, and review with her testimonials from coaches and patients who participate in the Myeloma Coach Program about how it literally changes lives and eases burdens of the Myeloma journey. The link to sign up for any of those events and even more events that I have not mentioned today is found at the bottom of this slide and will be included in that follow up email I've been mentioning. Another thank you to our sponsors, Bristol Myers Squibb, Takeda Oncology, Cario Farm Therapeutics, Adapted Biotechnologies, Janssen Oncology, Avvy, Sanofi, Amgen Oncology, and Genentech. And thank you to each of you. Happy New Year. It was such a pleasure to join with you again today and hope that you have a great rest of your day. Thank you so much.