If the money rolled over into the next year, it might be a good idea. You forfeit whatever money (your own money) you have left in it at the end of the year. At least thats the case with my company’s plan.
Are you sure? Ours changed a year or 2 ago...the rules relaxed. If it hasn’t changed, then of course, you have to be careful making the election amount, but it’s still worth it.
Congress refuses to amend the law to permit FSA funds to be carried over into the following year. The concern seems to be that people might eventually have enough money saved that --gasp-- they won't need health insurance. We can't have people just paying for their own medical expenses out of pocket. /sarc
I think what they're getting back to is the old style Major medical plan - utilizing HSAs.
I think we lose unspent monies as well, which is why I try to figure out what I’m going to spend and keep my contribution just a little under that. I’m on medications that I refill once a month, so I’m about 90% sure of what I’ll spend from year to year on co-pays. Anything extra, we’re allowed to spend on over the counter meds, etc., so it works out.
Those are IRS rules and apply to everyone, but since the government steals so much of our money post-tax, I figured we only have to use half of it to break even. We can do that just with our prescription co-payments.