Restart Coverage for Flexible Spending Accounts

This topic covers how to configure flexible spending accounts (FSA), which might have requirements to start new on a certain date. For example, FSA plans in the US, such as health care and dependent care reimbursement, typically must start new every calendar year.

FSA plans also typically require explicit entry of the enrollment amount, even if the participant:

• Enrolled in the previous year

• Plans to continue the same coverage level for the following year

The coverage of a currently enrolled participant should end on December 31 and restart on January 1.

Configure the FSA Plan

In the Plan Configuration work area:

1. On the Edit Program Enrollment page, select the FSA plan from the program hierarchy.

2. On the Scheduled tab, select the Open event.

3. In the Session Effective Date field, select the first day of the new benefit year, typically January 1.

4. In the Enrollment Method field, select Explicit.

5. In the Enrollment Rule field, select Current - keep or choose, starts new; new - can choose. This rule ensures that current participants must explicitly reelect coverage amounts, even though their coverage amounts might stay the same. The coverage ends at the configured end date for the processed life event and restarts the next day.

6. Select one of the following default enrollment rules, depending on your plan configuration.

   Default Enrollment Rule	Usage Conditions
   New - nothing; current - nothing	Typical default enrollment rule to force participants with current year coverage to reelect coverage for the new plan year.
   New - default; current - default	If your FSA plan configuration includes a waive plan or option, select this default enrollment rule on the waive plan or option.
   New - default; current - same enrollment but default rate	If the standard rate for the FSA object has a default of zero.

7. In the Reports and Analytics work area, check the setup using the Participant Enrollment Results Report.

   1. View the report results as of one day before processing the open event. The results provide a list of current enrollees in each FSA plan, and their current elected amount.

   2. Run the same report after the open enrollment period ends to verify that coverage was reelected, or ended, according to participant elections.

Test Procedure in a Test Instance

Follow these steps after you set up the enrollment rules in a test instance:

1. Process the open event in the Evaluation and Reporting work area as of the first day of your new plan year.

2. Search for the enrollment information of a current FSA plan participant. Select Enrollment under Benefits on the Navigator menu to search for and select the participant and open the Benefits Service Center page.

3. For this date, verify that the Enrollment Results page:

   • Doesn't display the existing enrollment in the FSA plan

   • Does display existing enrollment in other benefit plans, which is expected

4. On the Enrollment page, explicitly select the FSA plan and specify the coverage amount, to enroll again for the new plan year.

5. Verify that the coverage start date is the first day of your plan year and the original coverage start date is as expected.

6. Select the first day of your new plan year as the session effective date.

7. Verify that the Enrollment Results page shows that coverage:

   • Ended on the last day of the previous plan year

   • Restarted on the first day of the new plan year

You can follow the same procedure to test the self-service enrollment for a worker by using this method to open the worker's self-service enrollment pages:

1. On the Manage Self-Service Enrollment Configuration page, verify that Parameter Display is selected.

2. Select Benefits under Me on the Navigator menu.

3. Search for and select the person.

4. Click Continue.