Flex Plans for Medical Expenses

Do any of you work for someone who offers one of these plans?  My husband contributes pretax dollars, and we can use the money throughout the year for medical expenses, including many over-the-counter items such as pain relievers and bandages.  I love these plans because we can save taxes on money we'd be spending anyway, plus it helps us budget for things like copays and deductibles.

My last job offered this, but I was reluctant to sign up because any left over funds don't carry over from year to year, or get returned to you.

So you save 10-40% on your medical supplies due to the tax savings, but are you able to estimate how much your going to spend on medical expenses within a 10-40% margin of error?

Before my wife became self-employed, she worked for a company that had a plan like that, but I forget her details. She recently had a root canal that probably won't be paid for on her current plan.

The topic of health insurance is of interest to many of us as the boomers get into retirement age.

My company offers this and dependent care FSA.  They are great budget tools for me.  Especially the dependent care.  The trick is to UNDER estimate your expenses, that way, you don't lose any money.  Because I wear contacts/glasses - I can count on $300 annually, and then my regular co-pays.  This year, my daughter needs glasses, so, that is another $400.00.  The nice thing about the Health FSA, unlike the Dependent Care FSA, you don't have to have the full amount to be reimbursed per claim.  On the Dependent FSA, I just submit my claim forms and I get reimbursed every two weeks, and you continue to get reimbursement as you contribute.  It takes some creative budgeting, but it is a system that works for me.

If the extra un used funds don't get carried over then that is a waste of money and pointless. I would opt out on that idea.

When the funds don't carry over it really defeats the purpose of having such a plan. I am not a hug fan of them