Important Notice About Flexible Spending Accounts

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Important Notice About Flexible Spending Accounts

Due to recent legislature changes and finalized guidance, Texas Health is making some changes to how Flexible Spending Account plans operate such as an extension of deadlines to use your funds, submit claims and make mid-year changes to your Flexible Spending Account elections. 

Extension of Deadlines

Texas Health is extending the deadline for employees to incur and submit claims for 2020 and 2021 Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts and Day Care Flexible Spending Accounts.

  • 2020 Accounts:
    • OLD DEADLINE: The deadline to incur claims was March 15, 2021. The deadline to submit claims was March 31, 2021.
    • NEW DEADLINE: The deadline to incur claims using your 2020 funds is December 31, 2021. The deadline to submit claims will be the earlier of March 1, 2022 or 60 days following the end of the federal declaration of national emergency.
  • 2021 Accounts:
    • OLD DEADLINE: The deadline to incur claims was March 15, 2022. The deadline to submit claims was March 31, 2022.
    • NEW DEADLINE: The deadline to incur and submit claims using your 2021 funds is December 31, 2022.

Mid-Year Changes

Texas Health is allowing mid-year changes to be made to the 2021 Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts and Day Care Flexible Spending Accounts without having had a change in your job or a change in your life circumstances.

  • If you are currently enrolled in a 2021 Health Care Flexible Spending Account or Day Care Flexible Spending Account, you may stop or change your current election at any time for the remainder of 2021. Please note, you may not change your election to an amount lower than what you have already contributed.
    • Any changes that you wish to make will be effective after your form is completed and submitted to the Benefits Department. To make a change to your FSA, login to MyTHR.org and select the Benefits tile. Click on Life Change Event on the left, and then complete the appropriate form.
  • If you are not enrolled in the 2021 Health Care Flexible Spending Account or Day Care Flexible Spending Account but would like to enroll, you may do so at any time for the remainder of 2021.
    • Any changes that you wish to make will be effective after your form is completed and submitted to the Benefits Department.
  • NOTE: if you are planning to cancel your current elections in the Health Care Flexible Spending Account, please be aware after you cancel your elections, you can only be reimbursed for expenses incurred before your election change. . If you have funds you have not been reimbursed for, you may consider lowering your annual election rather than stopping it. To be able to continue incurring expenses, you can reduce your annual contribution for the remainder of the year.