Accept HSA/FSA cards

Health Savings Account (HSA) and Flexible Spending Account (FSA) cards let cardholders pay for qualified medical expenses with pre-tax funds. These cards are issued on the major card networks (primarily Visa and Mastercard) and are processed like any other card payment through Rainforest.

What determines whether an HSA/FSA card will be approved is the merchant's Merchant Category Code (MCC). Issuers use the MCC to decide whether a purchase is likely to be a qualified medical expense. Merchants onboarded with a healthcare MCC can accept HSA/FSA cards automatically, with no additional configuration.

How HSA/FSA acceptance works

Rainforest supports HSA/FSA acceptance using the healthcare MCC method. Merchants whose business is a healthcare provider or seller of qualified medical products (for example, doctors, dentists, optometrists, and chiropractors) are onboarded with a healthcare MCC. The issuer recognizes the MCC at authorization and approves the transaction if the cardholder has available funds.

There is nothing extra to enable on the payin config or the Payment Component. If the merchant has an eligible MCC, HSA/FSA cards are accepted just like any other Visa or Mastercard.

Eligible Merchant Category Codes

The following MCCs support HSA/FSA acceptance. The MCC is set during merchant onboarding and should accurately reflect the merchant's primary business.

*Acceptance depends on the cardholder's plan administrator.

Changing a merchant's MCC

If an existing merchant was onboarded with a non-healthcare MCC but their business qualifies for one of the codes above, contact Rainforest Support to request a review. Rainforest may ask for additional information about the goods or services the merchant provides before updating the MCC.

Refunds

Some HSA/FSA cards don't support refunds. If a refund to an HSA/FSA card fails, the merchant will need to return the funds to the cardholder another way, and the cardholder should contact their plan administrator about how the refund should be applied to their account.

Merchants that sell both eligible and ineligible items

Some merchants sell a mix of products, only some of which are HSA/FSA eligible. For example, a wellness brand may sell a product that qualifies with a Letter of Medical Necessity (LMN) alongside products that don't qualify.

For these cases, Rainforest can set up a secondary HSA/FSA merchant account, subject to review and approval:

• The merchant keeps their standard account with their regular MCC for non-eligible purchases.
• A second merchant account is created with a healthcare MCC and "HSA/FSA" added to the end of the merchant's name. It's used only for HSA/FSA-eligible purchases.
• HSA/FSA cards are declined on the standard account, and non-HSA/FSA cards are declined on the HSA/FSA account.

To be approved for this setup, the platform must be able to:

1. Screen products and services for HSA/FSA eligibility.
2. Collect and validate Letters of Medical Necessity when required.
3. Route each payin to the correct merchant account (eligible purchases to the HSA/FSA account, everything else to the standard account).

To discuss whether your platform qualifies, contact your Platform Success Manager.

Limitations

Rainforest does not currently support these other HSA/FSA acceptance methods:

• Inventory Information Approval System (IIAS): Used by retailers such as pharmacies and grocery stores to approve eligible items at the line-item level while declining ineligible items in the same basket.
• SIGIS 90% rule: Lets a merchant without a healthcare MCC accept HSA/FSA cards by registering with the Special Interest Group for IIAS Standards (SIGIS) and attesting that at least 90% of their sales are HSA/FSA eligible.

Because line-item approval isn't supported, merchants with mixed baskets must use the secondary HSA/FSA merchant account setup instead.

Test HSA/FSA payments in sandbox

Use these healthcare test cards in sandbox. Any 3–4 digit CVC is accepted. See Test accounts and cards for the full list.