Health Care FSA
A health care flexible spending account is a great way to help you save money pre-tax for annual healthcare expenses you may foresee.
If you know you’re going to have medical, prescription drug (and some OTC medication), dental and vision expenses, you can pay for them with a Health Care FSA (HCFSA) and avoid paying federal income tax on the expense.
For employee's not enrolled in Aetna's Savings Advantage medical plan, McClatchy offers an HCFSA.
Plan Information
With a Health care FSA you can contribute pretax dollars from your paycheck, up to the plan limit. Your full contribution is available at the start of the plan year to pay for eligible health care expenses (known as the Availability rule). It covers you, your spouse and/or your tax dependents for:
- Copays, coinsurance and deductibles
- Dental expenses like orthodontia, crowns and bridges
- Vision expenses like LASIK eye surgery, glasses and contacts
- Prescription drugs and over-the-counter (OTC) items
For a comprehensive list, check out the expense eligibility categories on this page.
How can you lower your taxable income this year with your FSA?
Contributions to your FSAs are tax-deductible, and the funds are tax-free when used for qualified expenses. For example, if you contribute $2,000 annually to your FSA and your base salary is $60,000- you will only be taxed on $58,000 of gross income (note, this example is only considering the FSA component of taxes).
Health Care FSA FAQ
For 2023, you can contribute up to $3,050 to the HCFSA.
For 2024, you can contribute up to $3,200 to the HCFSA.
The annual amount you elect to contribute will be divided into equal amounts and deducted from your first two paychecks of each month on a before-tax basis for a total of 24 pay periods per year. As you incur and pay for eligible expenses, you can use your PayFlex Visa card or submit claims for reimbursement with copies of your receipt(s)/Explanation(s) of Benefits to PayFlex, our FSA third-party administrator. PayFlex pays approved claims on a daily basis.
Generally, you are not required to be enrolled in McClatchy's medical coverage to be eligible for a health care FSA, you just have to be an employee of an employer who offers an FSA.
Be advised, if you are enrolled in the Savings Advantage plan and eligible for the HSA you are not eligible to contribute to the health care FSA and McClatchy does not offer a Limited FSA.
You can submit claims incurred between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 against your account balance for the Plan year. You will have until March 31 of the following year, to submit claims to PayFlex for reimbursement.
You can submit claims online by going to www.payflex.com, logging into your account, and either submitting claims directly through the only portal or downloading the claim form to submit claims manually.
In accordance with IRS regulations, money that is not claimed by the deadline will be forfeited.
Before enrolling during the annual Open Enrollment period, you will need to estimate the eligible health care expenses you and your eligible dependents expect to incur during the upcoming 12-month period beginning Jan. 1. It is important to do this carefully because any amounts left in your account(s) after March 31 of the following year will be forfeited. Current federal tax laws prohibit refunds of leftover account balances to participants as well as the transfer of funds from one FSA plan to another. The tax laws also prohibit the transfer of funds from one plan year to another.
Use the Savings Calculator to help you itemize unreimbursed health and dependent care expenses to assist in determining your health care spending account contributions and potential increase in savings.
The amount you elect to contribute cannot be changed during the Plan Year except under very limited circumstances. Contribution changes based on a change in qualified life event are allowed only if the election change is necessary and consistent with the change in status. For the Health Care FSA, the change must also result in a gain or loss of health care insurance coverage. All changes must be sent to livewell@mcclatchy.com within 30 days of the event.
Plan participants will receive a MasterCard from PayFlex. This card is called the “PayFlex Card”. The card can be used to pay for eligible healthcare expenses such as medical plan co-pays or deductibles, prescription drugs, certain dental expenses and/or prescription eyeglasses. The “PayFlex Card” is a debit card that will allow health care plan participants to make payments directly from their FSA account without having to pay for the expense out-of-pocket at the time of service and then remit claims for reimbursement. Please keep all of your receipts as you may be requested by PayFlex to produce receipts for some debit card transactions.
Services must be incurred before claims may be submitted. Health care claims must include a statement from the provider or insurance company (an Explanation of Benefits is preferred) which provides: the name and address of the provider; the name of the individual receiving treatment; dates of service; the participant’s financial responsibility after payment by the insurance company; and a description of the service.
The general rule for medical expenses is that the expense has to be for medically necessary purposes only. Cosmetic or optional expenses are not eligible.
Check if your expense is eligible for reimbursement via the eligible expenses table here or check out the Eligible Expense Scanner on the PayFlex Mobile app available on Apple and Google Play stores.
Forms
- FSA Claims
- Use this form to submit expenses for reimbursement.
- Direct Deposit Enrollment
- Use this form to enroll in direct deposit for FSA reimbursements.
Contacts
- Payflex Information Line: 888-678-8242
- Account balance
- Eligible expenses questions
- Claim status and inquiries
- Payflex Member Website
- Savings Calculator
- Eligible Expense Search
- Claim status and inquiries
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