Ways to use Truemed | Truemed Customer Help Center

Truemed supports two distinct ways for you to use your HSA or FSA funds: paying directly at checkout with your HSA/FSA card, or paying with a regular card and submitting a reimbursement claim afterward. Which path you take depends entirely on how the merchant you’re shopping with has integrated Truemed.

This article explains how each path works, how to tell which one applies to your situation, and how they compare side by side.

Truemed payment at checkout (orders)

With the at-checkout path, your HSA or FSA funds are used at the time of purchase, just like a regular payment card.

Here’s how it works:

You complete a Truemed qualification survey. Before or during checkout, Truemed walks you through a short medical qualification survey. This survey determines whether your purchase qualifies as a medical expense under IRS guidelines. If you’re approved, you receive a Letter of Medical Necessity (LMN) tied to your order.
You pay with your HSA/FSA card at checkout. Once you’re qualified, Truemed processes your payment directly using your HSA or FSA card. The full eligible amount is charged in real time, just like any other card transaction.
Your purchase is complete. No extra steps needed. Truemed generates your documentation (your LMN and receipt) automatically and stores it in your Truemed dashboard for your records.

This path is available at merchants using Truemed’s Shopify or payment integrations. If you see Truemed appear as a payment method at checkout alongside other options like credit card or PayPal, you’re on the at-checkout path. Make sure you’re logged out of Shop Pay to view the Truemed payment method.

A few things to keep in mind:

You’ll need to log out of Shop Pay and checkout as a guest to view this option.
You’ll need a funded HSA or FSA card to complete the purchase this way.
Your card must have enough available balance to cover the eligible items in your cart.

Post-purchase reimbursement

With the post-purchase reimbursement path, you pay for your purchase normally (with a personal debit or credit card), and then use Truemed’s documentation to request reimbursement from your HSA or FSA administrator separately.

Here’s how it works:

You complete your purchase with a regular payment method. You check out on the merchant’s site using a personal debit or credit card. Truemed is not involved in the actual payment.
You receive a Truemed qualification survey. After your purchase, Truemed sends you a survey link, typically via email or through the merchant’s confirmation page. You complete this short survey to determine whether your purchase qualifies as a medical expense.
Truemed generates your documentation. If you’re approved, Truemed issues an LMN for your purchase. Your LMN will be stored in your Truemed dashboard and can be downloaded at any time.
You submit a reimbursement claim to your HSA/FSA administrator. You take the documentation Truemed provides as well as the merchant’s purchase receipt and submit a reimbursement claim directly to the administrator or third-party administrator (TPA) who manages your HSA or FSA account. Truemed cannot submit this claim on your behalf. The process, timeline, and requirements vary by administrator.

A few things to keep in mind:

You pay out of pocket upfront and get reimbursed later, so you need funds available in your regular account at the time of purchase.
Your survey must be completed on the same day as your purchase.
Reimbursement timelines depend on your HSA/FSA administrator, not Truemed. Most administrators process claims within a few business days, but it can take longer.
You are responsible for initiating the reimbursement claim with your administrator. Truemed provides the supporting documentation, but doesn’t file the claim for you.
Not every administrator accepts the same documentation formats. If your claim is denied, check with your administrator about what they require.

Which path applies to you

If you’re not sure which qualification path you’re on, here are the clearest signals:

You’re on the at-checkout path if:

Truemed appeared as a payment option on the merchant’s checkout page, alongside options like credit card or PayPal.
- Remember to log out of Shop Pay and checkout as a guest to view this option.
You completed a qualification survey before or during checkout, not after.
You were asked to enter your HSA/FSA card details before your order was confirmed.

You’re on the post-purchase reimbursement path if:

You received an email after your purchase with a link to complete a Truemed qualification survey.
You paid with a regular debit or credit card at checkout, and Truemed was not part of the payment flow.
You saw Truemed mentioned in an order confirmation email but didn’t use an HSA/FSA card to pay.

Still not sure? Reach out to Truemed support at support@truemed.com and we can look up your order.

Key differences

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the two paths:

	At-checkout (Orders)	Post-purchase (Reimbursement)
When you pay	At checkout, in real time	At checkout with a personal card; reimbursed later
How HSA/FSA funds are used	Charged directly at checkout via your HSA/FSA card	You submit a claim to your administrator after the fact
Who initiates the HSA/FSA transaction	Truemed processes your HSA/FSA payment automatically	You file the reimbursement claim with your administrator
Survey timing	Before or during checkout	After your purchase is complete
Documentation provided	LMN and receipt, stored in your Truemed dashboard	LMN stored in your Truemed dashboard
Reimbursement timeline	Immediate (funds used at purchase)	Varies by HSA/FSA administrator, typically a few business days
HSA/FSA card required at checkout?	Yes	No

Both paths result in the same core outcome: your purchase is documented as a qualified medical expense, and you have an LMN on file. The difference is in when and how your HSA or FSA funds are actually applied.

If you have questions about which path is right for your situation, or if you ran into trouble with either flow, our support team is always happy to help at support@truemed.com.