What is a Dependent Care FSA?
You can use pre-tax dollars to cover eligible work-related dependent care expenses for qualified dependents, or if you are married, while you and your spouse work or your spouse attends school full-time.
What is a Healthcare Flexible Spending Account?
You may set aside pre-tax dollars to cover eligible medical expenses that are not covered by any other type of insurance. The account helps you budget for planned expenses such as deductibles, co-payments and prescriptions. You may refer to the FSA eligible expenses tool on this site for a list of eligible and ineligible expenses.
What is the Carryover?
On October 31, 2013, the U.S. Department of the Treasury changed the “Use It or Lose It” rule, providing employers the ability to offer a Carryover option which allows for up to $500 of FSA balances remaining at the plan-year end to carry over for use during the next plan year. The Carryover option is available with healthcare and limited purpose FSAs.
What is the difference between a healthcare FSA and a limited purpose FSA?
A limited purpose FSA can only be used for vision and dental expenses. It is intended to work in conjunction with an HSA. A healthcare FSA covers all eligible medical expenses.
What is the difference between an HSA and a Healthcare FSA?
Both HSAs and FSAs allow you to pay for qualified medical expenses with pre-tax dollars. One key difference, however, is that HSA balances can roll over from year to year, while FSA money left unspent at the end of the year or after a designated grace period is forfeited. You may choose to use a Limited Purpose FSA to pay for eligible heath care expenses and save your HSA dollars for future health care needs. You may use Limited Purpose FSA dollars to reimburse yourself for expenses not covered by your high-deductible health plan, such as:
1. Vision expenses, including: Glasses, frames, contacts, prescription sunglasses, goggles, vision co-payments, optometrists or ophthalmologist fees, and corrective eye surgery
2. Dental expenses, including: Dental care, deductibles and co-payments, braces, x-rays, fillings, and dentures