August 24, 2023

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) are designed to reimburse medical care expenses. IRS Code says that expenses must be for the “diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease, or for the purpose of affecting any structure of function of the body”, but what if something can be used to cure a disease and for general health? In these cases you must use the "but for" test. 

February 17, 2021

Today, savings and spending plan participants can swipe their benefit card and funds are automatically deducted from their benefit account(s) for eligible expenses. The benefit card eliminates most out-of-pocket cash outlays and paperwork, as well as the need for reimbursement checks. Some FSA and HRA debit card transactions, however, may still require substantiation. These substantiation requests can be a real pain point for employers and plan participants, so here are some helpful details to provide clarity.

November 25, 2019

During the third quarter, Chard Snyder processed a large volume of plan participant appeals regarding timely claim filing. Through investigation of each one of these appeals, a common theme surfaced that the employee was either never made aware or not sufficiently reminded of their filing deadlines and other terms of their benefits. Here are some best practices around claim filing that we feel could enhance your employees’ experience.

August 27, 2019

Before healthcare benefit debit cards became available, flexible spending account (FSA) and health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) participants had to pay for their eligible expenses at the time of purchase, submit claim forms along with all receipts, and then wait for reimbursement to be processed.