Pay with Plastic

... Titus said the number of enrollees in the federal FSA program is comparable to privately sponsored plans, but it's not high enough.

"I don't understand for the life of me why we only have 10 percent of the eligible population enrolled instead of 90 percent," Titus said.

"I think some people think that when you talk about using pre-tax dollars and saving tax dollars, somehow the [tax] return is going to get more complicated, but it doesn't." There are a couple of catches for debit program participants.

One is that OPM also will require employees to be enrolled in paperless reimbursement in order to sign up.

And, for some items, such as over-the-counter drugs, Titas said employees still may be required to submit receipts to validate the transaction.

Since the program won't launch until the summer, details still need to be worked out.

Teeth for Two Government workers will have optional dental and vision coverage by the end of 2006.

There will be a new option for enrollment in the benefit, as well.

In addition to the traditional "self" and "self plus family" choices, enrollees will be able to choose "self plus one" when signing up for dental and vision insurance.

The premiums would cost more than those for a one-person plan but less than for a family plan.

The extra option could be used by married couples without children or couples with grown children on their own plans.

"It will be interesting to see what the premiums loo...

Read more...

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | All news

Medicine