Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA)

What you need to know

Flexible Spending Accounts give you a tax-advantaged way to pay for the current year’s health care expenses using a debit card. Contributing is easy, and reimbursements are quick and convenient.

The Health Care FSA saves you money because you can pay for eligible health care expenses for you and your eligible dependents with pretax dollars.

You can use the Health Care FSA to help pay for:

Doctor visits and prescriptions
Dental care, like fillings and braces
Vision care, like glasses and contacts

Even if you are not enrolled in a BAE Systems medical plan, you are still eligible for the Health Care FSA.

Limited Purpose Flexible Spending Account (FSA)

If you are enrolled in HSA Primary or HSA Plus, you can have a Limited Purpose FSA to help you pay for dental and vision services. You may want to consider a Limited Purpose FSA to pay for dental and vision expenses in order to preserve your HSA funds for just medical expenses, or to save for retirement. Under IRS rules, you cannot be reimbursed for medical or non-dental or non-vision prescription drug expenses if you have a Limited Purpose FSA.

Enrolling

To participate in an FSA, you must submit your contribution elections when you enroll in your benefits each year. When setting your FSA contribution amount, consider how much you’ll need to cover your eligible out-of-pocket expenses during the year.

Understanding the costs you’ll incur each year is important, since any funds you save in an FSA must be used in that year or be forfeited. Your FSA contributions also reduce your taxable income, as they are deducted from your paycheck before federal, state, local, and Social Security taxes are withheld.

Using your FSA

When you have a health care expense, you can either pay with the Smart-Choice debit card or pay out of pocket and then submit a claim for reimbursement.

You must use all the money in your account before the end of the calendar year, or you will forfeit it. You must use your FSA funds by December 31, but you have until April 30 of the following year to submit your receipts. For example, 2024 expenses must be submitted by April 30, 2025, and 2025 expenses must be submitted by April 30, 2026.

Manage your account online through Smart-Choice Accounts, a website you access through BenefitsNavigator that lets you check your balance, submit a claim for reimbursement, check claim reimbursement status, etc., online at any time.