General-Purpose Health Care Flexible Spending Arrangement

 

Employees may set aside money on a pretax basis to pay for uninsured medical expenses. The monies cannot be used to pay for insurance premiums. The maximum contribution is $2,750 per Plan Year with a minimum contribution of $600 per Plan Year. This account can be used to pay for medical and dental plan deductibles and co-payments, uninsured medical expenses and other eligible expenses such as contact lenses and eyeglasses. The amount you elect to contribute is available to you on the first day of the Plan Year, even if it exceeds your year-to-date deposits to the account. You then pay back the plan over the course of the year with your payroll deductions.

In order to participate in the plan, an employee must be continuously employed by the current employer (State of Louisiana) for at least 12 consecutive months.


To qualify for medical reimbursement, an expense must meet the following requirements:

  • The expense must be a qualified medical expense
  • The expense must be for you or a qualified dependent
  • The expense must occur during the Plan Year



Participants have a “Grace Period” until March 15 th to incur eligible expenses to be reimbursed from unused amounts remaining at the end of the immediately preceding Plan Year, which ends December 31 st. There is a “Run-Out Period” of 45-days time period after the end of the “Grace Period, during which participants can submit eligible expenses incurred during the preceding Plan Year and the “Grace Period” for reimbursement. Eligible expenses must be received by April 29 th to be paid from funds remaining at the end of the immediately preceding Plan Year. Money remaining in the account must be used prior to the end of the Plan Year or it will be forfeited. For this reason, accounts should be funded wisely.

For more information, please contact theBenefits Office at (985) 549-2057 or visit the Office of Group Benefits web-site at

 

http://info.groupbenefits.org/docs/OGBforms/FlexibleBenefits/2017/FlexibleSpendingArrangementEnrollmentStopForm2017.pdf