FSA use-it-or-lose-it rule changed

Use-it-or-lose-it is no more.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS on Thursday issued a notice modifying the longstanding "use-or-lose" rule for health flexible spending arrangements. Participants now can carry over up to $500 of their unused balances remaining at the end of a plan year.

The rule will go into effect for the 2014 plan year.

Effective immediately, employers that offer FSAs that don't include a grace period will have the option of allowing employees to roll over up to $500 of unused funds at the end of this plan year.

An employer cannot offer a FSA carryover provision and an FSA grace period at the same time, officials said Read More

Do less to win in wellness 

Wellness is not working.

Despite more than 30 years of work to improve population health and thousands of wellness companies offering all sorts of solutions, an honest look at the health of the average employee reveals that it's tragically poor compared with what it could be.

So the obvious conclusion must be "We need to do more." More and better programs, more things to motivate employees, more areas to address - such as smoking cessation, stress management, healthy eating, financial fitness, work-life balance. More. More. More. Read More