If you will be reimbursed for the expense, as you were in this case by your insurance, it's not a qualified medical expense for the purpose of an HSA distribution or a Schedule A deduction. Your HSA can only be used to pay for expenses that you pay out-of-pocket such as co-pays, deductibles and medically necessary procedures or prescription drugs that your insurance does not cover.
The main purpose of the HSA is to allow you to have insurance with a high deductible and to be able to pay the uncovered expenses with tax-free money. Effectively, the US government is subsidizing your health coverage. Invested appropriately, money in an HSA grows tax-free if eventually used for qualified medical expenses for you, your spouse or your dependents, including the payments for Medicare once you reach age 65, so there can be a huge benefit to the HSA even if you do not presently have qualified medical expenses to on which to use the HSA money. As long as the money is eventually used tax-free for qualified medical expenses, an HSA is more beneficial for saving than a Roth IRA.
