×

To install this webapp, tap share then Add to Home Screen.

×

To install this webapp, please open in Safari.

AGRs Can Enroll in Health Care FSAs on March 3

02-04-25 WR FSAs WEBSITE
02-04-25 WR FSAs WEBSITE
Washington Report

Title 10 and Title 32 National Guard Active Guard and Reserve personnel can open health-care flexible spending accounts for the first time during a special enrollment period next month, according to defense officials.

HCFSAs enable participants to set aside up to $3,300 in pretax dollars each year to cover out-of-pocket costs not covered by health or dental insurance, such as co-payments and cost shares, deductibles, braces and other orthodontia, glasses and contact lenses and prescription drugs.

Wellness treatments such as acupuncture, massages and chiropractic care are also eligible.

Financial advisors say using FSAs can reduce participants’ taxable income and increase the buying power of their paychecks.

For example, officials at the Federal Flexible Spending Account Program — which will administer the program — estimate FSAs can save participants an average of 30% on eligible health care expenses. FSAFEDS offers a calculator to help determine potential annual savings.

HCFSAs are a common workplace benefit outside the military. The federal government already provides them to civilian employees, and now it is extending the benefit to active-duty uniformed service members.

This follows the Defense Department making Dependent Care FSAs available to uniformed personnel last year, but only to active-component service members and AGRs on Title 10 orders.

DCFSA participants can use pretax dollars to pay for preschool, summer day camp, before- or after-school programs and child or adult daycare.

Title 32 AGRs became eligible to access DCFSAs this year during the 2024 Federal Benefits Open Season last year.

March 3-31 is the enrollment period for the new HCFSA. More information — including a long list of coverable expenses, and enrollment details — is available at www.fsafeds.gov. The website is not yet updated to reflect the special enrollment period.

More FSA information can be found on the DoD Office of Financial Readiness website, which has been updated with the special enrollment period.

Financial advisors recommend participants estimate their out-of-pocket medical expenses conservatively.

Service members must use and claim their FSA funds by the end of the plan year Dec. 31. They can carry up to $640 of unused funds into the next year if they reenroll.

— By John Goheen