• Use Your FSA Benefits or Lose Them? Not so Fast
• The Goldilocks Principle: Helping Your Participants Contribute Just the Right Amount to their FSA
• Blueprint for Wellness® Toolkit Available
• Important COVID-19 Coverage Information for HealthFlex Participants
• COVID-19 Vaccine Coverage
• Save the Date—HealthFlex mini-Summit!
• Wespath Staffing Updates—Sarah Krause Joins Wespath's Legal Team; Jim O'Connell to Retire

Use Your FSA Benefits or Lose Them? Not so Fast

Widely known for authorizing $600 stimulus checks for many Americans, the Consolidated Appropriations Act also allows plans to permit carryover of all remaining 2020 health and dependent care flexible spending account (FSA) amounts through 2021. We are currently working with HealthEquity on the operational details for HealthFlex participants as we plan to allow current HealthFlex participants to carryover their 2020 funds for use in 2021. We will share more information and details with plan sponsors and impacted participants as soon as possible.

The Goldilocks Principle: Helping Your Participants Contribute Just the Right Amount to their FSA

HealthFlex will also permit prospective health and dependent care flexible spending account (FSA) changes mid-year in 2021, as permitted by the Consolidated Appropriations Act. We know that mid-year changes can create payroll challenges, particularly for our conference plan sponsors, but we feel it is important to allow our participants this flexibility. The availability of health care and childcare services may fluctuate due to the coronavirus pandemic and, when coupled with the likely carryover of 2020 FSA funds, participants could end up with surplus FSA benefits in 2021. To help prevent that, participants will be permitted the following flexibility in 2021:

• Participants are permitted to terminate, increase or decrease contributions to their medical reimbursement account (MRA) or Dependent Care FSA (DCFSA)
• Changes must be prospective, meaning participants can't undo contributions that have already been made
• The change cannot be for less than what has already been contributed or reimbursed

Changes between invoices can be reviewed on the Payroll reports through Benefitsolver. Prospective FSA changes were also permitted mid-year during 2020 based on IRS Notice 2020-29.

Blueprint for Wellness® Toolkit Available

Blueprint for Wellness Toolkit pieces are now available on the extranet to send to your participants. Documents include a Blueprint for Wellness e-mail for HealthFlex participants and a Blueprint for Wellness e-mail for retirees for plan sponsors that provide this benefit to their Via Benefits population. If you are considering having an on-site event, editable e-mails are also included for HealthFlex participants and retirees.

As a reminder, this brochure has a reminder of all the details of the Well-Being Programs for 2021, now available through Virgin Pulse. Please e-mail wellnessteam@wespath.org with any questions. The at home screening (formerly QCard) will continue to be available outside of New York state, so an on-site event is not critical to achieving widespread access to Blueprint for Wellness if national, state, or local circumstances related to COVID-19 make in person gatherings unadvisable. The deadline for BFW completion in 2021 is August 31.

Important COVID-19 Coverage Information for HealthFlex Participants

We are anxiously awaiting news on an extension for the COVID-19 emergency period and will share details as soon as they become available. Currently, coverage will be extended until at least January 31, 2021, for the following:

• COVID-19 testing covered at 100%
• At home COVID-19 testing (only if recommended by your doctor)
• In-network COVID-19 treatment covered at 100%
• $0 copay for MDLIVE® online consultations

We expect that the emergency period will be extended and if so, we expect to be able to extend the above benefits as well.

COVID-19 Vaccine Coverage

The vaccine will be covered as part of both the HealthFlex medical and pharmacy benefit. When available, covered individuals can choose to receive it at a doctor's office or local pharmacy.

Save the Date—HealthFlex mini-Summit!

Wespath will host a virtual HealthFlex mini-Summit from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. CST on March 25. Stay tuned for more information. A registration link will also be forthcoming with the opportunity to sign up.

Wespath Staffing Updates—Sarah Krause Joins Wespath's Legal Team; Jim O'Connell to Retire

We are pleased to introduce Sarah Krause as our newest Associate General Counsel. She joined Wespath on January 4 and will succeed Associate General Counsel Jim O'Connell, who will be retiring [around February 1] after nearly six years at Wespath. Sarah will take on many of Jim's responsibilities, focusing on legal support and advice related to HealthFlex and other health and welfare benefit plans. Sarah joins Wespath from Boeing, where she managed a team of benefits professionals, and before that worked in law firms in Nashville and Milwaukee in employee benefits practices. Sarah is available at SKrause@Wespath.org or 1-800-269-2244, ext. 4562.

Jim has presented on health care plan legal topics at numerous HealthFlex Summits, as well as Conference Forums and Association for United Methodist Conference Pension and Benefits Officers (AUMCPBO) meetings. Many of you have worked directly with Jim, as he assisted you with questions about HealthFlex and other benefits matters. We have valued Jim's contributions over these years. Please join us in wishing him well in his retirement.

While Wespath's Plan Sponsor Relations team remains your primary contact for most ongoing plan administration matters, Sarah and others at Wespath are additional resources for you. You will likely meet Sarah at our upcoming HealthFlex mini-Summit.

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