Open Enrollment: Get to Know Your FSA Benefit Options

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Open Enrollment closes in ONE WEEK on Tuesday, November 15! There’s still plenty of time to learn about benefits options that you might not be familiar with and enroll in them for next year. Today’s post will focus on Flexible Spending Accounts, commonly known as FSAs.

FSAs aren’t just a few random letters of the alphabet; they’re a way you can save pre-tax dollars to pay for eligible health and dependent care expenses! FSAs (Flexible Spending Accounts):

  • Lower your taxable salary (because your contributions are taken out pre-tax); and
  • Increase your buying power (because the funds are never taxed if you use them for eligible expenses).

We offer two kinds of Healthcare FSAs:

  • Traditional: A Traditional Healthcare FSA can be used to pay for eligible out-of-pocket medical, dental and vision expenses (including many over-the-counter products!) and is available to anyone who is not on a High-Deductible Health Plan.
  • Limited-Purpose: A Limited-Purpose Healthcare FSA is only available to those on a High-Deductible Health Plan (like our Albemarle Choice plan) and can only be used for eligible dental and vision expenses.

Good stuff to know about Healthcare FSAs:

  • They’re pre-loaded at the start of the year. If you, for example, elect to contribute $500 over the course of the year, you actually have all $500 available to use as of January 1.
  • They come with a convenient debit card.
  • They feature a $610 rollover from 2023 into 2024.

Please note: If you currently have an FSA and you do not enroll in one during the Open Enrollment window, any FSA balance you have at the end of the year will be available to you next year, but you will not be eligible to make further contributions into the account.

We also offer a Dependent Care FSA:

A Dependent Care FSA provides tax-free reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses related to dependent care if:

  • Your dependent children under age 13 attend daycare, after-school care, or summer day camp; or
  • You provide care for a person of any age who you claim as a dependent on your federal income tax return and who is mentally or physically incapable of caring for themselves.

Please note: You cannot use funds from a Dependent Care FSA to pay for healthcare expenses.

Want to learn more about FSA options?

Take a minute to check out our Flexible Spending Accounts info page. REMEMBER: If you want to contribute to an FSA next year, you must enroll by November 15 by logging in to your ADP account and submitting your enrollment in the Open Enrollment module.

Need help?

Whether you have a quick question or you’d like to schedule a virtual consultation with a member of our benefits team, we’re here to help! You can reach us by email at benefits@k12albemarle.org or give us a call at 434-296-5827.