Build security, prepare for the unexpected and plan for health care expenses with the Flexible Spending Account (FSA) program.  The City allows employees to defer a portion of your pay through payroll deductions into an FSA.  The money that goes into an FSA is deducted on a pre-tax basis, which means it is taken from your pay before federal and social security taxes are calculated. 

You do not need to be enrolled in the City's medical benefits to participate in the FSA.  All FSA accounts will be administrated by Discovery Benefits. The FSA features a debit card that enables you to pay for eligible medical and dependent care expenses directly from your FSA, eliminating the need for you to pay out of your own personal funds and file for reimbursement.  

You may deposit up to $2,750 per plan year into your FSA to cover you and your dependents during the plan year. Eligible expenses include, but are not limited to, deductibles, co-payments and co-insurance payments, routine physicals, uninsured dental expenses, vision care expenses and hearing expenses.  It is important that you estimate your annual expenses carefully.  You are allowed to carry forward $500 into the new year, anything over $500 will be forfeited.

Dependent Care FSA: You may deposit up to $5,000 per family or $2,500 if married and filing separately, per plan year into dependent care FSA.  Eligible expenses include payments to day care centers, preschool costs, before and after school care and elder care. You may not rollover unused dependent care funds.  

Remember to always submit receipts for debit card transactions to Discovery Benefits when they request verification of the expense or the amount will become taxable to you.

For more information, click here to visit the Discovery Benefits website.

To manage your FSA on the go, download the Discovery Benefits Mobile app!  Click here for more information.