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The Flex Spending Account (FSA) is a valuable employee benefit that puts money in your pocket by helping you save on health care costs as well as the dependent care expenses you incur in order to be employed. The FSA benefit includes two programs to help you keep more of your paycheck.
Since 1991, the Dependent Care Advantage Account (DCAAccount) has consistently saved State employee participants an average of $1,500 annually on their dependent care expenses. The Employer Contribution, a feature implemented as a result of collective bargaining, is being increased to a maximum of $600 for eligible State employees who enroll in the DCAAccount in 2002. Last year, participation in the DCAAccount surged, as more than 5,000 working parents learned that the Employer Contribution could significantly help cover summer day camp, nursery school, child care center, or adult day care costs.
The program also consists of the Health Care Spending Account, which was established in 2001 to allow you to save money spent on health care services for your family that are not reimbursed by your health insurance plan. The Health Care Spending Account, like the Dependent Care Advantage Account, is an easy-to-use program that lets you contribute pre-tax dollars through automatic payroll deductions into your reimbursement account. A special feature of this benefit even allows you to be reimbursed for eligible health care expenses without waiting for the cash to accumulate in your account-just like an interest-free loan!
The Flex Spending Account offers various customer-friendly services such as direct deposit of authorized reimbursements into your bank account. You can also reduce claims processing time by faxing reimbursement request forms to the FSA Administrator. More than one-half of the current FSA participants use these program features, which give them prompt access to their funds by eliminating mail time. You can check your account balances at any time online or by using a voice-response system.
The Flex Spending Account, administered jointly by staff of the Governor's Office of Employee Relations and the Family Benefits Program, is an economy-minded and family-oriented program that has emerged in part through the collective bargaining process. We are very pleased to be able to offer you this program at no cost, thus enabling you to better afford rising health care costs as well as the high cost of quality child and adult day care services.
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