NOTE: To participate you must enroll for an FSA each year. It will NOT automatically roll over into the new year.

The Fund offers three types of FSAs: a Health Care FSA (HCFSA), a Dependent Care FSA (DCFSA), and a Limited Health Care FSA (LHCFSA), which covers only dental and vision benefits.

If you enroll in the Comprehensive, Premium, Premium Plus Plans, or Kaiser HMO (Local 125). You may enroll in either the HCFSA and/or the DCFSA.

If you enroll in the Consumer Driven Health Plan (CDHP) with HSA, you may enroll in the DCFSA, and/or the LHCFSA (which covers only dental and vision benefits).  The maximum amount you can contribute to the HCFSA or to the LHCFSA is $3,050. The maximum amount you can contribute on a yearly basis to the DCFSA is $5,000 per household ($2,500 if you are married and file a separate tax return).

NOTE: The LHCFSA will work the same way as the HCFSA. The difference is that with the Limited HealthCare FSA (LHCFSA), you can only submit claims for eligible dental and vision expenses, and you cannot have coverage under any other health plan or health insurer.

NOTE: The DCFSA (dependent care expenses) has certain qualification rules. If you have any questions about the DCFSA, you should contact the Administration Office.

You’ll be able to pay for eligible Health Care and dependent care expenses directly at the time of purchase by using the BennyTM Card, which will act like a bank debit card except that it will be linked to your FSA. When you incur an eligible expense, you’ll simply use the BennyTM Card to pay for it and the merchant or Health Care provider will automatically be paid from your Health FSA or DCAP. All merchants and medical providers who accept MasterCard should accept the BennyTM Card, including physicians, pharmacies, dental providers, vision providers, hospitals, discount stores, department stores, and supermarkets. If a merchant does not accept MasterCard, you’ll have to pay for your products and services up front and submit a claim to the Administrative Office for reimbursement. When you file a claim, you will be reimbursed differently under a Health FSA than you will under a DCFSA. With the Health FSA, the amount you elect for the year is available to you at any time during the year. With the DCFSA, you can only be reimbursed up to the amount you have in the DCFSA account as of the date of your claim.

Medications require a prescription in order to be eligible for reimbursement from a HCFSA.

If you open a 2024 FSA, you will have until March 15, 2025 to incur any eligible expenses and you will have 90 days after the end of the year (until march 31, 2025) to submit eligible claims for reimbursement. Any money left in your account thereafter will be forfeited.

The information provided on this page is only a brief description of the Benefit Plans offered to participants under the IBEW/Western Utilities Health & Welfare Trust Fund. For detailed information on the flexible spending account plan options available to you, please log-in and download the Plan’s Summary Plan Description or Open Enrollment Guide in the Documents/Forms section of this website.