Flex Benefits

Elle

Does anyone have experience working with a Flexible Benefits Plan? If so, has it really been beneficial for the ee and er?

Any input on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

lukkieseven

I have worked with these benefits for a number of years. There are pros and cons, but I believe the pros outweigh the cons.

It's very beneficial for the employee since the amount they allocate to flexible spending is pre-tax and we have a maximum of $5,000 for both medical and dependent care. It's extremely beneficial for co-pays, Rx, and many out of pocket expenses. The IRS now allows all non-prescription medications. Which means aspirin, cough syrup, zantac, etc. all can be used towards the flex spending account. It's amazing how many items are allowed.

The draw back is that an employee can draw against their account even if they don't have the total amount of money in the account. It would be imperative that the employer stipulate in an agreement with the employees that any negative balance in the flex account will be reimbursed by the employee to the employer upon termination of employment (usually by deducting from the final paycheck).

We have not had this problem in all the years I've been doing this.

Hope this was helpful.

Elle

Your post is very helpful.

What if an ee does not use all the money in their account?

deniseE

It depends on how the fund is governed...we are entering into a contract to offer this benefit...frankly, I think that while the entire workforce would benefit...the ones that feel they can "afford" to will be the upper management/directors...the ones that need it most will be afraid to lose control over that 20/per pay or whatever.

The arrangement we've made is a use it or lose it. But, the upside is that OTC meds are approved...among other things that could be purchased at the end of the year to use up any remaining balance.

lnelson

For the FSA Medical Out of Pocket if they put into it more than they take out at the end of the year they loss it.
Usually the TPA will notifiy the ee approx. 90 days prior to year end of their remaining balance. It is up to the ee to submit the receipts to be reimbursed back to them.

We have had no problems with our FSA program.

Don D

I'm afraid 125s don't work that way. The money that is not utilized at the end of the year remains with the employer. The money that is utilized by the employee prior to the maximum annual amount being contributed, if he quits, remains with the employee. The risk is somewhat equally shared.

Unless something has changed with this program.

marc

Don is correct. The requirement to repay any excess usage upon termination is strictly voluntary. We don't even ask. We limit the medical reimbursement piece to $1,500 to limit our exposure. Over the past 6 years, the forfeitures have exceeded any excess by about $1,800. Not a large swing, but obviously could disappear quickly.

Elle

So if an employee needs more money then what was put away, that becomes the employers expense?

marc

No, the plan is only responsible up to the maximum each EE selects. The ER is responsible to set the limit - we use $1,500 per year. I have heard of some plans that go as high as $10,000. Our little shop was not comfortable with that level of exposure. An EE can spend the entire amount on the first day of the plan, but not have paid in the total amount selected until the last day of the plan. If they leave beforehand, the ER eats the uncontributed difference.

twochr

We have the program and I will tell you about it in the 'first person'. Even tho I know how the program works - pre-tax, etc. - I never signed up because I hated to have anything else taken out of my paycheck! Well, this past year I decided what the heck, go ahead and just put in $25 per paycheck - especially since I could get reimbursed for my Neosynepherine nose spray, allergy pills, aspirin, etc., as well as my prescriptions and co-pays. Well, the second week in January, I had spent about $100 on co-pays and meds so I went ahead and filled out the form and sent it in. Imagine my amazement when I got a check back in under a week!!! Wow! We have an awesome plan administrator and they are really on the ball. I already have been reimbursed for everything I will be putting in for the rest of this year - wish I had increased the amount (I intend to put in at least $50 per check this next year)! I loved getting those checks each week. And by the way, the $25 I put in was only reflected as a $17 (and some cents) deduct from my net pay due to the 'no income tax' on the $25. So, I encourage anyone to go ahead and have this program. It is great for the employees and since it is a benefit we (the company and HR) give them, they are grateful! (and our payroll department keeps track automatically so no problem there).

Elle

Thanks for your post!

Can an employee pick how much money they want deducted?

What I'm trying to figure out is if it benefits us as an employer as well.

marc

Yes, the EE can pick the amount they want up to the limit established by the ER.

jmcaa

Yes, in our plan the employee can choose from $0.97 to $192.30 per bi-weekly pay period. It is part of our Section 125 Plan, therefore in order to make a change in your election you have to have a qualifying event.

Also, our plan is use it or lose it, BUT at the end of the year we take the money not used to offset the negative balances of ees who have terminated employment, then any money left over is divided equally among the participants and given back in the next plan year to active employees as of Dec. 31. This is our 2nd year of the Flex Plan, so we returned $22.04 back to our employees.

The benefit to the employees is they lower their income taxes and pay for medical/rx services with before tax money. The only draw back that I see for the employee is that their Social Security wages are lowered by their election amount, which ultimately will affect their Social Security check when they do retire IF they are continuously putting money in a flex plan.

The benefits to the Employer are they don't have to pay the matching Social Security/Medicare taxes, so the Employer is saving the 7.65% on all amounts that are withheld for the employees flex plan. Also, employees who use the plan will appreciate it.

This 7.65% savings more than pays for the TPA fees charged us to administer the plan.

It is DEFINITELY a worthwhile program.

System

I really appreciate our plan since our Rx copays have shot through the roof ($50 for medicine that works, $25 for generic aspirin). And it was great for child care expenses when Kiddo was younger. I could withdraw more money than was in my account for health care but not child care.

James Sokolowski
HRhero.com

Don D

There really is no gamble for the employee if he/she is a careful planner/predictor. When I was in the plan, I knew to the dollar how much I would spend for child care and knew that year after year I met deductibles and often knew in November or December which surgeries would occur next year (my son had football surgery EVERY damned January or February). The people who say it's too much to bother with are either lazy or poor planners or don't care about saving tax dollars.

I'm no accountant, but I suppose for the employer it's a good-will program plus some savings on FICA plus a minor amount of 'seized funds' at program-year end. I'll defer to Mark on this.

marc

We look at it as a wash. Since we farm out the administration of the benefits (we don't want to find ourselves argueing with EEs about what is qualified vs. what is not), the fees we pay just about offset the FICA savings. Also, we assume the forfeitures will offset those early payouts for people who subsequently leave. So far, the forfeitures have been slightly in our favor. I suspect some plans allowing larger contributions may get some EEs who would plan some large expenses knowing they were soon to leave.

Our third party administrator loves to tell the story about the CEO who set their ceiling at something around $10,000 then left the company. By the way, their are some weird Cobra rules that allowed each of his dependents to claim the $10,000 of medical. In the case of this story, everyone mysteriously had that many expenses subsequent to the CEO leaving - which of course, soaked the ex-company. It is stories like these that led us to the relatively small limit of $1,500.