Open Enrollment
Plan
Flexible Spending Accounts
Flexible Spending Accounts are the best way to save money on expenses you pay anyway. They allow you to set aside pre-tax income to use to pay for eligible health and day care expenses. Chard-Snyder manages UofL’s flexible spending accounts. Two separate accounts are available: health care or dependent care. You may enroll in either or both, or you may choose not to enroll at all.
Depending on your tax bracket, you can save 25% to 30% in taxes on every dollar you put into the accounts. For example, if you were to set aside $3,000 this year for health care expenses, you would save nearly $1,000 in taxes if you are in the 30% tax bracket. If you set aside $5,000 for child care or elder care expenses, you would save as much as $1,500.
Heads Up
- You must use your 2008 FSA funds for eligible expenses incurred in 2008. You can file your 2008 expenses to be reimbursed through March 31, 2009. If there is any money left in your account after that, you will forfeit it.
- Once you set up an FSA, you cannot change your contributions to it unless there is a qualifying event in your family’s status (marital status, birth or adoption of a child, change in day care expenses or provider, death of a family member) or in your or your spouse's employment status (changing from full-time to part-time).
- Do not destroy the Benny Card you received in October 2007. It will be valid in 2008.
- If you are covered under a health savings account (HSA) elsewhere and are interested in a limited health FSA, please contact Human Resources at 852-6258 for more information.
What do I need to do during Open Enrollment?
- If you want a health care or dependent care flexible spending account in 2008: You must enroll during open enrollment – even if you had a flexible spending account in 2007.
- If you do not want a health care or dependent care flexible spending account in 2008: Do nothing.
- If you are waiving participation in a UofL health plan: Your health benefit allotment will be placed in a health care flexible spending account. You do not have to enroll.
- If you are waiving participation in a UofL health plan and do not want your allowance to be placed into a health care flexible spending account: You must go online during open enrollment to change its allocation.
Who is eligible for flexible spending?
- Active regular status employees who are employed 80% or greater full-time equivalency (FTE)
- Active regular status part-time employees and temporary part-time lecturers who are employed 40% to 79%
- Spouses and children
Health Care Flexible Spending Account
The Internal Revenue Service allows you to set aside from $150 to $5,000/household annually in a health care flexible spending account. You can use the money to pay for IRS-approved medical expenses not covered by the health, dental or vision plans, including:
- Prescriptions copays; over-the-counter medicines (with some limitations) such as pain relievers, antacids and allergy medication; medical or dental co-payments and deductibles; and smoking cessation costs.
- These expenses can be yours or those of any member of your family (IRS dependents).
Some expenses cannot be paid through a flexible spending account, including:
- Cosmetic surgery, maternity clothes, health club dues, funeral expenses and insurance plan premiums
Complete list is available here (opens a new window or tab).
Heads Up
- Keep your health-care-related receipts. Chard, Snyder & Associates may request that you send them as proof of your expenses to fulfill Internal Revenue Service requirements.
- You cannot take a tax deduction on your return for expenses paid from a flexible spending account.
Questions about current FSAs? Call Chard, Snyder & Associates at 1-800-982-7715, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. (EST), Mon. - Fri.
Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account
If daycare (either for children or dependent elders) is needed to allow both you and your spouse to work or for your spouse to attend school full time, the Internal Revenue Service allows you to have a dependent care flexible spending account. If you and your spouse file a joint tax return, the IRS allows you to set aside $150 to $5,000/household annually.
You can use the money to pay for approved daycare expenses for eligible children younger than 13 or eligible dependents who are physically or mentally unable to care for themselves. Elder care also can be paid from a dependent care flexible spending account.
The dependent care flexible spending account does not cover medical expenses.
Eligible expenses (opens a new window or tab)
Questions about current FSAs? Call Chard, Snyder & Associates at 1-800-982-7715, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (EST), Mon. - Fri.
Debit Card for Health FSA
If you are enrolled in a health care flexible spending account in 2007, you will not receive a new Benny card for 2008. If you are a new participant for 2008, you will receive a card in the mail in late December 2007.