Health Care Reimbursement Account (HCRA) Overview

A HCRA can help you pay for eligible expenses that are not covered or are only partially covered by your health care plans (e.g., your eFunds medical and dental plans). Note: IRS regulations prevent you from using your Health Care Reimbursement Account to pay expenses for domestic partners and their children, or for other ineligible dependents.

You can contribute up to $5,000 per year ($208.33 per paycheck if you have 24 pay periods each year - $192.31 per paycheck if you have 26 pay periods each year) to your HCRA. Your pre-tax contribution will be deducted automatically from each paycheck. You cannot stop your contributions or change the amount you contribute unless you experience a change in family status.

The full amount of your elected contribution for the year, minus any previous claims, is available at any time during the year to pay expenses. For example: let's say you elect to contribute $1,200 to a HCRA in 2003.

If you submit your first health care expense claims on March 1, 2003 for $700, you will be reimbursed $700 even though your total payroll deduction deposits to your HCRA account to date total only $200.

If you use eFunds BlueCard PPO plan, and/or Delta Dental network providers, you can arrange to have your plan co-payments and any deductibles automatically reimbursed from your HCRA. You will need to track expenses and file claims for co-payments and deductibles for services provided by out-of-network providers. If you use out-of-network providers and submit a claim to Blue Cross, Blue Cross will automatically reimburse your share of the patient responsibility amount from your HCRA.