Flex Debit Card
The Flex Debit Card allows employees to directly access their Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Transportation plans. Employees can take advantage of their pre-tax accounts without the traditional hassles of double out of pocket expenses.
The Flex Debit Card looks like a typical credit or debit card, and is issued under the MasterCard® system, but is only accepted at specific types of merchant or provider locations as defined by merchant category codes ("MCCs"). Participants can use the debit card to pay for eligible expenses wherever MasterCard® is accepted — from physician and dental offices to pharmacies and vision service locations.
Claims Substantiation
Employees are required to maintain their receipts as the IRS still requires that all FSA claims be substantiated. The following are the best practices for using their debit card:
Easiest – use the card at any of our partner vendors and participants will not be asked for documentation. These merchants use an inventory control system that only allow qualified expenses to be purchased when using the debit card. Effective January 1, 2008, new regulations will be in effect for debit cards used for a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and/or Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) at non-healthcare related merchants (grocery stores, discount stores, etc.). The new regulations state that the card may only be used at non-healthcare related merchants that have an Inventory Information Approval System (IIAS – click here to learn more about IIAS). When using the card at merchants utilizing IIAS, the card may only be used for eligible expenses as defined by IRS Code Section 213(d). There are no changes for any other types of merchant (doctors, dentists, chiropractors, vision centers, etc.). Click here to view a list of participating merchants.
Easier – use the card your benefit plan copayments which HFS Benefits loads in our system and participants will not be asked for documentation. If other non-copay transactions are included on the same card transaction the participant will be required to submit for all of the charges including the copay. Also, recurring transactions that have been reported to HFS Benefits will not require documentation after the initial submission.
Easy – when the card is used for any other expense, complete a copy of the Debit Card Substantiation form and send to HFS Benefits with a copy of the receipt. To avoid delay in clearing the transaction, forms and applicable documentation should be sent within 30 days of the purchase. The debit card will be temporarily deactivated if proper documentation is not submitted within 60 days of the transaction date. We will send the participant a monthly statement if they have any pending transactions (requiring substantiation).
Funding
HFS and MBI (Mbi provides the Debit card platform), require that you designate a bank account for claims funding. This account must be funded at all times and may be debited daily (batched transactions) based on card activity.
Please refer to our Debit Card Policies and Procedures Manual for more detailed information regarding our debit card policy.