{"id":10002,"date":"2026-11-03T09:38:44","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T14:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/?p=10002"},"modified":"2026-11-03T09:57:54","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T14:57:54","slug":"open-enrollment-period-for-flexible-spending-accounts-now-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-10\/open-enrollment-period-for-flexible-spending-accounts-now-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Enrollment period for Flexible Spending Accounts now open"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10007 alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/11\/Enrollment-Header.jpg\" alt=\"Open Enrollment 2027 Header Image\" width=\"413\" height=\"129\" srcset=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/11\/Enrollment-Header.jpg 640w, https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/11\/Enrollment-Header-300x94.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 413px) 100vw, 413px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>November 3, 2026 &#8212;<\/em> <span data-contrast=\"auto\">PEF members who have not yet enrolled or wish to re-enroll in a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) have from now until December 8 to do so with the New York State plan administrator Total Administrative Services Corporation (TASC). FSA enrollment lasts for only one year, and employees must re-enroll during the open enrollment period for any of the FSA programs.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">FSA allows employees to set aside pre-tax dollars to pay for certain expenses. Several FSA programs are available to PEF members.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Health Care Spending Account (HCSA) allows members to set aside any amount from<\/span><\/b> <b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">$100 up to the contribution maximum of $3,400 for 2027 to pay for health care expenses that are not typically reimbursed by health insurance or another benefit plan.<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> This account is specifically for medically necessary expenses incurred during doctor or dental visits, vision, hearing, prescription drug and specific over-the-counter drugs. This benefit also applies to spouses and eligible dependents.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Unused contributions in the HCSA program can carry over to the next plan year. In 2026, the carryover limit is $680. If you carry anything over, you must spend it on eligible expenses before March 31, 2027.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Dependent Care Advantage Account (DCAA) program allows members to set aside money up to a maximum of $7,500 or $3,750 based on tax filing status to pay for eligible childcare<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> for children under the age of 13, elder care, or disabled dependent care.<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> This allows members some flexibility when dealing with the rising costs of daycare, nursery school, summer camps, adult daycare or dependent care facilities.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Employees who are eligible for DCAA may enroll without having to set aside any of their own money and will still receive an employer contribution starting at $600 and up to $1,100 depending on salary.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The DCAA gives members an additional 2.5 months to incur dependent care or adoption-related expenses and use the funds. Funds remaining in the account after the plan year ends must be used between January 1 and March 15 of the following year.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">For more information on all of the FSA programs, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pef.org\/pef_files\/docs\/pdf\/FSAOpenEnrollmentMemo2027.pdf\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">read this memo from PEF\u2019s Contract Administration Department<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. To enroll in any of the programs, visit the online platform for the FSA plan administrator, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/app.mybentek.com\/nysfsa\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">TASC<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, and follow the instructions.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>November 3, 2026 &#8212; PEF members who have not yet enrolled or wish to re-enroll in a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) have from now until December 8 to do so&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":10003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"division":[],"allowed_regions":[],"allowed_divisions":[],"class_list":["post-10002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","issue-volume-44-no-10","issue-volume-44-no-9"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.6 (Yoast SEO v28.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Open Enrollment period for Flexible Spending Accounts now open - PEF Communicator<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/communicator.pef.org\/issue\/volume-44-no-10\/open-enrollment-period-for-flexible-spending-accounts-now-open\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Open Enrollment period for Flexible Spending Accounts now open\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"November 3, 2026 &#8212; 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