FSA Administration

FSA Participant Accounts

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) are the natural progression from a plan that many of you may have installed in the early 1990's to permit your employees to pay for their medical insurance and dental premiums on a pre-tax basis. Those plans are called "Premium Conversion or POP Plans".

Flexible Spending Plans take the "POP Plan" concept to the next level, permitting your employees to contribute to this program with pre-tax dollars for anticipated expenses such as dependent care (day care) or medical and dental expenses (including co-pays and other medical services) not covered or limited to the payment available through your medical and dental insurance plan. This is the kind of benefit that you need to offer to keep and attract competent employees in a competitive employment market.

Most importantly, it can be done with little expense or operational complication to your institution.

The hidden benefit of the FSA is that many employers find the cost of adding and maintaining this plan is SUBSTANTIALLY or FULLY OFFSET by the savings generated on the pre-tax and PRE-FICA Contributions to the FSA. FSAs are often called a "Negative Cost" employee benefit because of this generated savings.

The addition of the FSA program will not complicate your day to day responsibilities as we handle virtually all operational aspects of the plan. We have developed systems to automate all of the functions required to make the program run month after month with little involvement by you or your HR staff. We handle it all from plan origination and employee enrollment meetings to the day-to-day operations. Employees interact with FSA through Voice Response and Internet Access.

Please remember that your FICA savings may reduce or eliminate your cost of offering an FSA. Please take a few minutes to review this information and think about considering this benefit as you review your benefits schedule for the New Year. Establishment of a new FSA can be done at any time during the year.

You may find that an FSA makes sense for you, your employees and your institution as a new, valuable benefit.