Reform's changes to flex accounts affect you and your staffers

Heads up: You may want to let staffers know time is running out for them to use flexible spending account (FSA) money on over-the-counter medications like Tylenol or allergy pills.

Starting in 2011, without a prescription, all over-the-counter medications (except for insulin) will no longer be reimbursable through FSAs.

If employees want to get reimbursed through their FSAs on OTC meds, they’ll need a doctor’s note.

It’s important to note that the reform law only affects over-the-counter medications. So let staffers know they can still use their FSA money on common items like bandages, gauze, etc.

Of course, that’s just one of the changes to FSAs under the reform law — and employers will likely have to take certain steps on their end to comply with the law.

Here are two moves most employers will have to take in order to comply with reform’s changes to FSAs in the near future:

1. Checking in with their FSA administrator to ensure employees’ OTC purchases aren’t being reimbursed with FSA debit cards, and
2. Editing all plan documents, summary plan descriptions, materials, etc., so that all workers are notified about changes to FSA accounts.