Medical Flexible Spending Accounts
Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts allow you to pay for certain health care expenses with tax-free earnings. Your contributions to these plans are deducted from your pay before taxes are calculated and withheld. Please review these options carefully, because the IRS sets regulations on contributions, reimbursements and left-over account balances.
What is the difference between a Flexible Spending Plan and HSA?
There are several differences between each:
- Flex is a use or lose account – all funds must be used by the end of the year (with 3 months after the end of the year to pay out claims incurred in the previous plan year) or you lose them. HSA rolls over each year.
- Flex is a spending plan meaning you elect a dollar amount that comes fully pre-loaded on your flex debit card on January 1. You then divide that amount by 26 and that is the deduction amount that comes out of your paycheck to essentially pay back the amount elected. With HSA, you build up the account over time with deposits.
- The flex account is paid for 100% by the employee. With HSA, the Archdiocese will make contributions to your account.
Click here for the Flexible Spending Accounts FAQ.
Click here for the Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts FAQ.
Enrollment
Enrollment for all flexible spending accounts is done only once a year during open enrollment for a January 1st effective date. New hires are not eligible to enroll until their first open enrollment period for a January 1st effective date.
View the FSA guide here for more in depth information.
Health Care Flexible Spending Account
For Persons Not Contributing to a Health Savings Account
This spending account is designed for employees who are not eligible for the Health Savings Account such as employees who are covered by Medicare, receive Veteran’s Administration benefits, or who are covered by a non-high-deductible health plan. This spending account is also available to employees who are eligible but choose not to elect the Health Savings Account.
See the full list of Limited Purpose FSA expenses here.
Maximum Contributions to the Health Care FSA
The maximum annual contribution you can make in 2024 to the Health Care FSA for persons not contributing to the Health Savings Account is $3,200.
Federal regulations govern the rules for our Flexible Spending Accounts to allow for the use of the Health Savings Account. Please consider these limitations before you elect to contribute to any of these accounts.
Limited Purpose Flexible Spending Account
For Persons Contributing to a Health Savings Account
If you are electing the high deductible medical plan and the Health Savings Account, but you expect that your HSA account balance will not be enough to cover your medical, dental and vision expenses for the year, you may want to consider making contributions to the Limited Purpose FSA.
See the full list of Limited Purpose FSA expenses here.
Maximum Contributions to the Limited Purpose Health Care FSA
The maximum annual contribution you can make to this account in 2024 is $3,200.
Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
View the DCFSA guide here for more in depth information.
This spending account lets you use pre-tax dollars to pay for eligible dependnet care expenses. A qualifying dependent may be a child under age 13, a disabled spouse, or an older paent in elder care.
See the full list of DCFSA expenses here.
Maximum Contributions to the Dependent Care FSA
The maximum annual contribution you can make to this account in 2024 is $5,000.
Run out periods – January 1 – March 31
For both medical and dependent care flex programs, each has what is called a run out period. This period is between January 1 and March 31 of every plan year. It is during this time, that if you wish to pay for an expense that incurred in the prior year, the only way to pay for it is with your own funds and then submitting a claim reimbursement form. Debit cards will not work during this period to pay for any expense in the prior plan year. This has to do with having two different buckets of money in one plan for separate plan years.
Have Questions?
Contact Health Equity at 877-924-3967
