Health Care and Dependent Care Reimbursement
Through a Health Care Reimbursement Account and/or Dependent Care Reimbursement Account an employee can pay for eligible healthcare and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.
Employees can establish a Health Care and/or Dependent Care Reimbursement Account each plan year (July 1 through June 31) to pay for eligible expenses to be incurred during the plan year.
Once an account is established, employees cannot stop contributions during the year unless he or she experiences certain family status changes and annual re-enrollment is required. Services must be incurred within the plan year and reimbursement claims received at the carrier no later than 90 days following the end of the plan year.
Employees must decide if it would be more advantageous to use the health care and/or dependent care reimbursement account or claim as a tax credit on his or her income tax return. Also, employees must budget carefully, because any funds remaining in the fund but not expensed out will be lost to the employee.
Effective July 1, 2008 the administration of the Health Care Reimbursement Account and Dependent Care Reimbursement Account will be provided by Planned Benefit Systems, Inc. (PBS).
PBS issues a special purpose MasterCard® to all employees enrolling in the HCRA and/or DCRA. This card provides instant access to the employee’s account funds and allows payment for eligible products and services at the point of sale without submitting a claim form and waiting for reimbursement.
Claims that cannot be paid by the card can be submitted electronically through Online Claim Submission on the PBS Web site or submit a hard copy.
For Health Care Reimbursement:
- Employees can set aside up to $250 per month or $3,000 annually to spend on eligible medical care expenses.
- Employees may be reimbursed for eligible out-of-pocket expenses for self or dependents through this account even if not enrolled in the District’s medical, dental or vision plans. However, expenses paid by an insurance plan are not eligible for reimbursement through the Health Care Reimbursement Account.
For Dependent Care Reimbursement:
- Employees can set aside up to $416.66 per month or $5,000 annually to spend on eligible dependent care expenses.
For more information on either of these accounts, click on one of the below links: