Todd Tiahrt: “the second point of our plan and the way we are going to help reduce health care costs in America is called flexible…”

“the second point of our plan and the way we are going to help reduce health care costs in America is called flexible spending accounts. That allows an employee to have some flexibility in his health care. It allows workers to direct their employers to deduct money from their paychecks to be placed in a flexible spending account. It is tax free, and it is to pay for health care expenses that they may incur during the year. Employers are not restricted based on the size of their business on whether or not they offer FSAs as their choice interpreted so that employees are restricted by whether or not their employer offers the option. There are no health insurance requirements for the workers to open up an FSA. There is no minimum or maximum contribution limits. Money can be drawn from an FSA to pay most medical expenses. That money may not be used for long-term care or health insurance premiums, but it is a tax benefit to the employees. Workers could save on their taxes because the amount committed to an FSA is subtracted from their wages before taxes are applied. There are long-term coverage advantages. Thirty-seven million employees in America have access to FSAs, but few take advantage of them today because they have a use-it-or-lose-it rule.”