U.S. Allows $500 Rollovers in FSA Health Savings Accounts

The Obama administration loosened rules governing health-care savings accounts known as flexible-spending arrangements, or FSAs, allowing consumers to roll over as much as $500 in unused funds each year.The change—likely to be popular with consumers—modifies the use-it-or-lose-it rule that has governed the tax-advantaged accounts for decades.Currently, FSA accounts are used by about 14 million families. They allow employees to set aside pretax dollars to pay for many health expenses that aren’t covered by insurance, such as deductibles or dental and vision services.The plans provide significant benefits. But for the past 30 years, they have been subject to a rule that meant any funds left unused at the end of the year have been forfeited to the employer. That has led to an annual rush to spend down the accounts that critics say has led to wasteful end-of-year spending. The rule also has discouraged some people from signing up,colourful double wall stainless steel vacuum flask including lower-income people who could benefit most.The idea behind the use-it-or-lose-it rule was to prevent people from sheltering large amounts of money in the accounts. But President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul reduced the amount of employee contributions to $2,500 for 2013, cutting the need for the use-it-or-lose-it rule, Treasury officials said Thursday.High Quality Lamp Shade From China LAMPLO CO.,LTD

In 2005, the Treasury allowed a 21/2 month grace period for spending down FSAs,double wall stainless steel thermos vacuum flask as a way of softening the use-it-or-lose-it rule. Employers now will be able to offer either the grace period or the $500 rollover provision, though not both. They can also offer neither.High Quality Lamplo Hexagon Silk String Lamp Shade LS30004The change comes at a time when the Obama administration has been under criticism, particularly from Republicans, over the rocky rollout of core provisions of its health-care overhaul. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Thursday’s announcement underscores the administration’s continuing efforts to provide “added flexibility and common-sense solutions to how people pay for their health care.”Despite the partisan battle over the Affordable Care Act, a longtime Senate Republican praised the latest move.double wall stainless steel thermos bottle“This was a good decision by the Treasury Department,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), who has sponsored legislation to achieve many of the same goals. “Allowing Americans who have one of these accounts to roll $500 over to the following year just makes sense and will give people more help to pay for out-of-pocket health-care costs,” Mr. Hatch said.