Beginning January 1, 2009, CONEXIS will replace SHPS as the administrator of UC's Flexible Spending Accounts (DepCare and Health FSAs). UC believes that partnering with CONEXIS, a national leader in benefits administration, will result in improved services to you. Along with this change, the HCRA and DepCare accounts will now be called the Health Flexible Spending Account (Health FSA) and the Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (DepCare FSA). Also, the claim filing deadline for the 2009 plan year will change to April 15, 2010.

If you enroll in these Plans for 2009, you pay for eligible dependent care expenses or health care expenses (not covered by your medical, dental, or vision plans) on a pretax, salary reduction basis. After you incur expenses, you submit a claim form and documentation to CONEXIS and you are reimbursed. You can also use the CONEXIS Benefit Card to pay for expenses at qualifying merchants, but you may still need to submit paperwork to CONEXIS so save all your receipts. See the At Your Service website for additional information.

The Open Enrollment website includes additional information about the FSA plans and a calculator to help determine your potential savings. Just keep in mind that if you don't use all your funds, you will lose them, so plan carefully and make sure you understand how to use the accounts. The FSA enrollment period is for one year and you re-enroll annually during Open Enrollment.

SHPS will continue to handle claims for any funds in the 2008 plan-year accounts, including any claims you wish to apply to your 2008 balance during the HCRA/DepCare grace period (January 1, 2009 to March 15, 2009). You will need to review your claims and balances for 2008 and should submit necessary claim paperwork to SHPS as soon as possible. The final deadline to submit claims is June 15, 2009 and only limited customer service support will be available from SHPS after that date. The 2008 benefit card previously distributed by SHPS will not be valid after December 31, 2008.