I just recieved a really great job offer not sure of the benefits?

Question

Okay the benefits that come with the job are Medical, Dental, 401k, Health Care Spending Account, Family Care Spending Account, Short-term, and Long-term disability, Employee Assistance, and a couple others. So my question is What is a Health Care Spending Account, a Family Care Spending Account, and Employee Assistance? I mean, what do those 3 do for me?

Answer 1

A health care spending account and family care spending account allows you to set aside a portion of your income to pay medical bills. There are tax benefits for these spending accounts. I'm 90% sure that you do not pay federal income tax on the money you set aside. This benefit is important to those who have significant medical bills for themselves or family member. Most of those bills might be covered by your medical plan, but you can use your spending account to cover your out-of-pocket costs.

Note, this is a "spending" account, not a "savings" account. You MUST spend all of what you put into the account by the end of the year, or you lose the money. So, if you do not have regular medical bills, this benefit may not interest you.

Employee Assistance Programs are like a crisis intervention plan for you. Good people are hard to find. Whe they have a life crisis, it can interfere with their work or cause them to leave. Employee assistance programs help the worker deal with whatever crisis IN TOTAL CONFIDENCE FROM THE EMPLOYER! There are limits to how many visits you get with a counselor (usually 3 to 5), but your employer pays. Most people never use it; but if you need it, you really need it.

Answer 2

Health Care Spending Account
is an account you contribute money to (pre-tax, meaning your gross income is effectively reduced by this amount) to cover expected medical bills such as co-pays, uncovered drugs, and deductibles. A good idea if you have or anticipate high medical costs. I don't use mine, so I can't say how inconvenient it is to fill out the forms to use it. One huge drawback to this program for me is: Use it or lose it. You designate an amount to put away in the plan at the start of the year, and if you haven't spent it by the end of the year, it's gone.

Family Care Spending Account
is pretty much the same thing, I believe, if you have 'other than medical' expenses for non-deductible dependants, such as parents (and maybe children over the age of majority, but I'm not sure about that).

Employee Assistance
includes things like drug addiction referrals and non-judgemental treatments. For example, if you as a covered employee call to get help with your drug addiction, then they generally promise to save your job for you while you dry out and treat the problem. Check the fine print before applying.

Ask the HR interviewer what these programs are. They generally assume that if you haven't asked, you either aren't interested or already know enough about such programs.

Answer 3

The Flex spending accts you're asking about are acct that are set up with money that is deducted from your paycheck, pre-tax and available to you to pay for daycare and medical/dental bills. Normally you have to pay the bills first and then provide paid receipts to your account manager for reimbursement. There is usually a limit to how much you can have put in these accts, say $5000.00 for daycare and $5000.00 for med/dent. At the end of the yr, these are things that you would get to claim on your taxes but since the money has been taken pre-tax, your paycheck isn't taxed as heavily. It's a nice deal. I usually put the whole amount allowable for daycare but limited the med/dent to $500-$1000/yr.

I don't know what Employee Assistance is.

Answer 4

The spending accounts are like saving accounts for moment of need. You decide how much will be taken out of your pay pre tax and when you need it its there. If it comes in addition to health care insurance, like my company has, its great in particular if you are someone who anticipate health issues or you are a careful person. If it is instead of health insurance, its very bad- if one is very sick and doesnt have enough in his account.
Employee Assistance is what it says and depending on company. My company has a backup child care; emergency mental counseling, emergency financial assistance.
It depends on who you are and what is your health status. You may be able to get yourself an individual coverage with blue cross blue shield if you are a young healthy single. Some people are unable to get along without traditional health insurance.

Answer 5

Im not to sure about the first 2 but I have employee assistance on my job and its basically saying you can get 3 visits free to places where you need help. for example, mental health. I never use it, but I know one thing.....I have every insurance POSSIBLE on my job!......i want ot be covered if anything happens to me....i have a plan where i get paid if i go to the hospital! lol! insurance is a must for me

Answer 6

The spending accounts are taken from your check tax free. Heres the catch if you take them out they will be taxed unless of course you use them on presubscribed list of events on yourself, your spouse or your children.

Answer 7

WHOA! I laughed so tough, I had tears in my eyes. Then I had my son learn it too (interrupting his overview for his checks) and he, too, had a well snicker. May I go this one on?

Answer 8

Call and ask!