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Wellness Spending Accounts

A Wellness Spending Account (WSA) is a personal spending account for plan members that is funded by the plan sponsor. The WSA is a taxable benefit to plan members and the plan sponsor is responsible for all payroll-related taxes and deductions, as well as tax reporting to plan members.

The Wellness Spending Account (WSA) can be used to pay for a wide range of items related to wellness, predetermined by the plan sponsor as needed for eligible wellness related expenses, for example: gym membership and equipment, wellness services.

Enrollment

When you are adding a new member under your WSA, you will need to enroll the plan member for benefits and enter in the annual contribution amount as part of the add plan member enrollment process. We cannot pay claims for the plan member or dependents until that information is entered into the Online Administration site, within the Spending Account section for the Plan Member. Refer to the ‘How to’ section, ‘Add Spending Account Contributions’ for detailed instructions.

Allotments

Annual Allotment

Allotments are made annually based on the amount defined in the Master Application. The full year allotment will be available to the member as of their benefit effective date. If the member’s coverage starts after the benefit year begins, the plan sponsor advises if the credits can be pro-rated based on the number of months remaining in the benefit year.

At the beginning of each benefit year, you must provide us with allotment amounts for all members for the new year – even if the amounts are the same as what was allotted for the previous year. Please be sure to send us annual updates well enough in advance to allow us time to update our records prior to the new benefit year. A delay in submitting update information may result in claims being declined incorrectly.

Changes to allotments

We allow changes to WSA allotments as the result of a life event (e.g. marriage, becoming a parent, loss of spouse’s coverage) or change in employment status (e.g. moving from part-time to fulltime status). The plan sponsor chooses whether the WSA allows changes at the time of a life event or employment status change, or if the member must wait until the next benefit year to make the change. WSA credits cannot be withdrawn from the member’s account once they have been deposited.

In combination with a Healthcare Spending Account (HSA)

If a plan sponsor also has an HSA they can set up a WSA such that it shares credits with their HSA. Plan Members would then have the option to allocate credits to either a HSA or WSA at the start of the benefit year. Alternately, the plan sponsor can select to have the WSA cover all HSA eligible expenses.

Claims

All WSA claims are to be submitted online using our convenient Online Insurance.

Members are allowed 90 days after the end of the benefit year in which to submit WSA claims for expenses incurred during that prior year. WSA claims are paid to the plan member and there is no assignment of payment to any provider. If plan includes EHC/Dental, reimbursement will ‘mirror’ plan members set up for EHC & Dental (i.e., either by cheque or direct deposit). If auto-coordination is set up, amounts paid out of both the core benefit plan and WSA would go on the same cheque and EOB.

Carry Over

• If your WSA offers no carry-over feature:
  Plan members have 90 day period after the end of a benefit year to claim expenses that were incurred during that year, after which any credits remaining in a member’s WSA will be lost.
• If your WSA offers Carry Over of expenses feature:
  Plan members have 90 day period after the end of a benefit year to claim expenses that were incurred during that year, after which any allotments remaining in a member’s WSA will be lost. However, employees may carry expenses forward from one Benefit Period into the next Benefit Period.
• If your WSA has a 12 month Carry Over of Credits:
  Plan members have 90- day period after the end of a benefit year to claim expenses that were incurred during that year. If they have unused WSA allotments remaining in their accounts at the end of the benefit year, they can carry them over to use along with their next year’s allotment to pay for next year’s expenses. (Next year’s claims would be paid first from the carried-over allotment, before using the new allotment.) Each year’s allotment can only be carried over for one benefit year. At the end of the second year’s proof of claim period, any carried-over allotments still remaining from the first year will be lost.

Billing

Billing in arrears. At the end of each month a separate Wellness Spending Account (WSA) bill is available in Online Administration for the plan sponsor, which includes the cost for all claims paid, plus our administration fee, plus applicable taxes.