3 Ways Employers Benefit When Providing a Benefits Debit Card

The potential to save is just as important as the time that’s spent to save, and that applies to your employee benefits offerings. By providing an easy-to-use employee benefits experience, you’re encouraging your employees to participate and save, helping you and them reap the rewards. Providing them with a benefits debit card will do just that by empowering your employees to easily tap into funds with one swipe. We’ve outlined three ways you benefit when your employees are able to use a benefits debit card to tap into their funds. 

Automated spending that makes participation easier

One of the keys to encouraging your employees to tap into your employee benefits year after year, and potentially increase their contributions each year, is to build loyalty through an automated savings experience. An easy process is easy for participants to buy into. A benefits debit card, such as the WEX debit card, lets them access their funds from all of their employee benefits on one card, allowing them to easily spend with just one swipe of the card. 

And when they use their benefits debit card at a merchant with an Inventory Information Approval System (IIAS) merchant, it will automatically approve the eligible expenses included in the purchase, which eliminates the need to substantiate Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) claims. All of this enhances their experience, which should boost participation, help them save on healthcare costs and help you save on FICA taxes. 

Simplified substantiation

The IRS requires that FSA and HRA claims be substantiated to prove the eligibility of expenses. And this is important because if the IRS determined that your FSA or HRA was not in compliance, your plan(s) could become disqualified and any contributions made to them could be considered taxable. 

In addition to spending at IIAS merchants, there’s also the option of setting up a debit card substantiation file feed, which allows additional automatic substantiation to take place with your third-party administrator via insurance carrier file feeds. 

The WEX debit card is also built with smart technology to automatically substantiate recurring expenses and copays. When an expense has previously been purchased and certain conditions are met (such as same amount and same location), then the purchase is automatically approved without requiring the participant to submit additional documentation. The debit card also recognizes recurring copays that are expensed and automatically approves them without requiring additional documentation. 

Reduced questions

Think about some of the common questions you (or your HR team) hear from employees regarding your employee benefits. How do I file a claim? When will I be reimbursed? How do I submit documentation? A benefits debit card can reduce or eliminate those questions entirely. Reimbursement is fast, and commonly mitigates the need for employees to perform manual tasks such as filing a claim or uploading documentation.