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Our employees reflect the highest standards of integrity and ability and are committed to serving you. That’s the assurance you need when choosing an appropriate administrator for your plan.
Our goal is simple: to develop long-standing relationships with employers who are delighted with our expertise and administrative capacity. We will make sure you and your employees are pleased with our services.
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News Briefs
December 2009
Deadline Approaches for Using Flexible Spending Account
USA Today - By Sandra Block
December 1, 2009 - If the guy in front of you at the drugstore is buying a case of ibuprofen, it's probably not because he's suffering from the mother of all hangovers. More likely, he's racing to use what's left in his health care flexible savings account before year's end. Read the complete article here.
November 2009
WageWorks' Jody Dietel Quoted in Fox News: Plan to Restrict Health Accounts Will Hurt the Disabled, Critics Warn
FOXNews.com -
By Judson Berger
November 25, 2009 - Families with special-needs children and people with chronic illnesses stand to lose hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in tax benefits under proposed health care reform legislation, critics say, warning that a plan to cap the amount of money people can put into special "flexible spending" health accounts will have "cruel" and "unintended consequences." Read the complete article here.
Cashing In On Health Plans By Year End
WSJ.com - By Anna Wilde Matthews
November 11, 2009 - With just a few weeks left in 2009, consumers should check that they aren't leaving any health-insurance money on the table. Read the complete article here.
Flex Spending Accounts Face Hit in Health Overhaul
Associated Press - By Erica Werner WASHINGTON
November 1, 2009 — Those tax-free spending accounts that you and your co-workers use to help pay for dental work, insurance copayments or over-the-counter drugs face a hit under the health overhaul bills in Congress — unless a coalition that includes a powerful union, insurers and others can stop it. Read the complete article here.
October 2009
Op-ed: Restrictions on FSAs Not a Wise Move By John K. Doheny
New Haven Register
October 27, 2009 -
Claire is a Connecticut resident with an insurance plan provided by her employer ... This year, her husband was diagnosed with stage IV melanoma. They face thousands of dollars of medical expenses not covered by their insurance plan. Fortunately, her employer offers a flexible spending account that enables her to set aside up to $5,000 before taxes from her take-home pay for her family’s health care costs. Read the complete article here.
Op-ed: Don't Restrict Use of Flexible Spending Accounts By Joe Jackson
San Jose Mercury News
October 18, 2009 -
In his recent address to Congress, President Barack Obama emphasized three key principles behind his health care reform plan. He said it will "build on what works and fix what doesn't," that "nothing in our plan requires you to change what you have" and that "the middle class will realize greater security, not higher taxes." Read the complete article here.
FSA tax increase (video)
iReport.com - By Jean Walker
October 19, 2009 -
In search of new tax revenue for health care reform, Congress proposes strict limits on a mostly middle-class employee benefit -- the Flexible Spending Account. View the video here.
August 2009
August 19, 2009: Save Flexible Spending Plans - An Opinion Editorial by Jody Dietel at RollCall.com
Aug 19, 2009: Backers of Health Spending Accounts to Make Case Against Caps
By: Jay Heflin
Backers of flexible medical spending accounts are planning a major push beginning next week to convince lawmakers and staffers that they should not place new limits on the accounts to help pay for the cost of health care overhaul legislation.
While reform negotiations are not taking place on Capitol Hill during the August break, representatives from the nonprofit Employers Council on Flexible Compensation will hold meetings next week with staffers to counter efforts backed by some Senate Finance Committee members to limit FSAs.
“We hear [FSAs] are viewed as an important pay-for, and we think that is contrary to important health policy,” said council spokeswoman Jody Dietel, who is also chief compliance officer for FSAs at WageWorks, a benefits company that oversees 1.5 million accounts. FSAs “drive down health care costs and are already working to achieve the objectives that are being touted as the goal of the whole process.”
FSAs are tax-advantaged savings accounts that workers use to pay for qualified health expenses. Deposits are not subject to payroll taxes, making them a cost-effective way to pay for out-of-pocket costs associated with traditional health plans. Currently, there is no limit on these deposits, but Dietel contends Finance members want to cap them at $2,000 or $3,000 to raise $18 billion over 10 years.
According to Dietel, the average FSA holder earns $55,000 annually, and capping tax-free deposits at $2,000 would negatively affect one in five account holders. But, she said, capping the deposits at $5,000 would leave most accounts unaffected and would be a compromise Dietel's group could support.
“We believe that if there’s going to be a limit, less than $5,000 is unsatisfactory,” Dietel said. “We get that everyone has to kick in a little ... and we’re absolutely committed to health care reform.”
A Finance spokesman would not comment on whether FSAs will be used to help fund the health care reform package being created by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Finance members Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.). “Committee members are still discussing a wide range of provisions and have not finalized or agreed to any policies,” the spokesman said.
The Finance members are expected to introduce their plan in September.
In the House, health care reform legislation that emerged from the Ways and Means Committee last month bans FSAs from being used to pay for over-the-counter medicines. The measure takes effect after Dec. 31 and would raise $8.2 billion over 10 years, according to the Joint Taxation Committee.
“That just doesn’t make any sense from the health care policy standpoint because it will drive up the cost of health care coverage,” Dietel said. “People are not using this as some wild tax shelter. They are using it for their day-to-day out-of-pocket expenses, and they are using their money wisely.”
To generate grass-roots opposition to capping FSA accounts, Dietel’s group created the Web site Save Flexible Spending Plans, www.savemyflexplan.org.
Tax lobbyists said amending FSAs has been discussed by Finance negotiators but the proposal is not a top priority.
While cautioning that nothing has been agreed to, the lobbyists expect Finance to pay for a chunk of the health overhaul by creating a 35 percent tax on insurers offering high-end health insurance plans. In most areas of the country, premiums above $21,000 for families or $8,000 for singles would be taxed, and in more expensive regions such as New York, the tax would apply to premiums above $24,000 for families and $10,000 for singles.
The measure is expected to raise $180 billion over 10 years. Baucus’ group may also increase Internal Revenue Service reporting requirements for corporations, which could raise as much as $20 billion over 10 years. The cost of the health overhaul legislation could be close to $1 trillion over 10 years.
June 2009
June 22, 2009: WageWorks Compliance Officer Named New SIGIS President
San Mateo, Ca (June 22, 2009) — WageWorks, the nation’s leading provider of consumer-directed health care, wellness, commuter, and employer-sponsored benefits for FORTUNE 1,000 companies, announced today that its Compliance Officer Jody Dietel has been named president and chair of the Special Interest Group for IIAS Standards (SIGIS).
SIGIS is the industry group responsible for the establishment and maintenance of an industry standard for operating an inventory information approval system (IIAS) solution, which is required by the IRS for flexible spending account (FSA) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRA) cards to continue to be used at non-health care merchants. The group’s members include more than 5,000 retailers, acquirer processors, payment card networks, issuer processors, and third-party administrators.
“Jody has played a significant part in the tremendous accomplishments SIGIS has achieved to date, and brings great perspective to her new position as president and chair for the organization,” said Stacy Pourfallah, SIGIS secretary. “Her expertise, effectiveness and enthusiasm will be key to this frontline role, helping to expand usability of employee benefits card programs across the United States.”
As president and chair, Jody will leverage her expertise and experience while working with the board of directors to guide the group’s ongoing efforts in managing the SIGIS standard approach to IRS requirements, for the use of health care payment cards. Prior to being named president, Jody served as SIGIS’ vice president. In her new role, Jody will continue to chair the SIGIS List Review Working Group, which is responsible for determining which items and services are and are not eligible for purchase using a health care debit card under the IRS rules. Jody also sits on the board of directors for the Employers’ Council on Flexible Compensation (ECFC), a non-profit organization dedicated to the maintenance and expansion of private employer benefit programs on a tax-advantaged basis.
“My interest is really for the millions of Americans who use these accounts. I got into this business because I really believe in these benefits, but if they’re going to work as intended, we need to have a broadly deployed approach; this is where SIGIS comes in,” commented Dietel, compliance officer at WageWorks and newly appointed SIGIS president.
With health care reform at the top of the government’s agenda, Jody hopes to use her industry cachet and influence at WageWorks to help shape the debate in Washington D.C., to ensure concerns of Americans—especially those with FSAs or HRAs—and their employers, are heard.
Dietel continued, “Several of the options proposed by the Senate Finance Committee for funding Health Care Reform would remove much of the behavioral changes that have occurred as a result of account-based plans. Eliminating or limiting account-based plans is really counter to the goal of health care reform, which is to lower costs and make coverage more universally affordable.”
SIGIS was formed shortly after the release of IRS regulation and guidance governing the use of health care payment cards for employer-sponsored tax-based accounts such as FSAs and HRAs. Because of the group’s work, a broad range of companies and consumers enjoy the convenience and security that comes with having consistent systems in place for transaction processing and data retention.
About WageWorks
Founded in 2000, WageWorks provides tax-advantaged health, wellness, child care, commuting, and education benefits. More than 100 of America's FORTUNE 500 employers and millions of their benefits-eligible employees use WageWorks' programs. As the cost of living continues to rise and more health care costs are pushed to employees, WageWorks seeks to eliminate barriers to benefit participation so working families can save money and improve their overall well-being.
WageWorks provides easy-to-use benefits programs that help save time, and educational tools and resources to increase employees' knowledge and understanding of their family's health care and financial needs.
WageWorks is headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., with offices in New York, Tempe, Ariz., Mequon, Wis., Kansas City, Kas., Lombard, Ill., Troy, Mich., and Vista, Calif. For more information, please visit www.wageworks.com
June 12, 2008: Jody Dietel, WageWorks Compliance Officer, quoted in Kaiser Health News
Read the article here: FSAs Could End Up On Chopping Block In Hunt For Health Overhaul Money
April 2009
April 2, 2009 WageWorks Compliance Officer quoted in Kiplinger article
Read the article here: What Happens to Your FSA If You're Laid Off
January 2009
January 8, 2009: Jody Dietel Named WageWorks Compliance Officer
January 8, 2009: Joe Jackson, WageWorks CEO, announced Jody Dietel as WageWork's Compliance Officer. Jody will continue in her important role as the President of WageWorks, formerly Creative Benefits. Jody's new title will be President of Creative Benefits and WageWork's Compliance Officer. Jody will continue to report directly to the CEO.
Jody brings a great deal of industry and compliance expertise to WageWorks. She currently serves as Secretary on the SIGIS Board of Directors, as well as serving on the Board of Directors for the Employers Council of Flexible Compensation, where she is currently responsible for conferences, heavily involved in certification and serves on the Technical Advisory Committee. A frequent speaker at industry functions, she is also the only non-attorney who speaks at conferences for the Employee Benefits Institute of America.
Prior to joining WageWorks, Jody provided leadership for Creative Benefits, Inc., a very successful Consumer Driven Healthcare (CDH) Benefits Administrator. She also provided industry direction and is a recognized expert in a variety of health and welfare areas.
In her new role, Jody will assume the responsibility for compliance activities related to all WageWorks services, as well as continuing her industry roles with SIGIS and ECFC.
Jody holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Bethel University in St. Paul, MN and is certified as a Flexible Compensation Instructor through the ECFC. Jody lives in San Diego, CA and is an avid reader, pursuer of the Arts, and loves to travel. Please join us in congratulating Jody and wishing her success in her updated role.
News 2008
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September 2008
Please join us in welcoming Pam Williams to WageWorks, formerly Creative Benefits, as the Manager of our Participant Support and Claims Centers. Pam brings with her 14 years of tenure in benefits administration and operations management at another TPA. Pam reports to Linda Campbell, Director of Client Services and joins other Client Services Managers in providing oversight for our service delivery.
Georgia Peterman joined us in March of 2008 to oversee the workflow and provide direction for the Client Services Teams as their Manager. Prior to joining WageWorks, formerly Creative Benefits, Georgia spent 15 years in Management at another TPA in COBRA and Client Services.
Rounding out the Client Services Management, Jenny Stanley is the Manager of our Data Center. Jenny joined WageWorks, formerly Creative Benefits, in April, 2005 and brought with her 10 years experience in Flexible Spending Account administration. Jenny is a graduate of the University of Montana, with a B.S. in Business Administration. She also holds the CFC designation and Cobra certification.
Jody L. Dietel, CFCI recently co-authored two articles relating to the Inventory Information Approval Systems requirement implemented for the use of health care payment cards for the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation's September issue of the Flex Reporter. Ms. Dietel serves on both ECFC's and the SIGIS Board of Directors. Read them both here:
Debit Cards, Payment Cards….whatever their name, they invoke emotion-laden conversation from TPAs of every size and market. Has their performance ever lived up to the hype?
IIAS: Boon or Bust?
Shockwaves hit the industry, and particularly payment card vendors when IRS Notice 2006-69 was released.
Inventory Information Approval System or IIAS: Looking back…
Company acquires Creative Benefits, leading provider of consumer-directed benefits services to SMBs
SAN MATEO, CA – September 22, 2008 – WageWorks, the nation’s leading provider of tax-advantaged health, wellness, commuting, child and elder care benefits and retiree services for Fortune 500 companies, today announced that it has acquired Creative Benefits, Inc., an industry leader in eligibility administration, COBRA administration and flexible benefit account services with more than 750 small and mid-sized clients across the nation. The acquisition strengthens WageWorks’ position in the consumer-directed benefits market and delivers a deeper suite of benefits solutions to small and mid-sized companies and their employees.
Creative Benefits serves the unique needs of small to mid-size employers with benefits services that include FSA, HRA, commuter, and Premium Only Plan (“POP”) administration, online enrollment, eligibility administration, and COBRA administration. The Vista, Calif.-based company will now operate as Creative Benefits, a WageWorks company. The combined company represents a market presence of over 2,700 clients and approximately 1.8 million participants.
“The combination of WageWorks and Creative Benefits creates a leading force in the consumer-directed benefits industry,” said Joe Jackson, CEO, WageWorks, Inc. “Together we can deliver a comprehensive suite of benefits solutions that provides companies of every size the specialized services they need.”
“When it comes to customer care, operational capability and technology innovation, WageWorks sets the gold-standard for service to the Fortune 500,” said Jody L. Dietel, Creative Benefits president and founder. “Similarly, Creative Benefits has delivered impeccable service to the small and mid-size employer market since 1989. Together, we can leverage our platforms, experience, and broader portfolio of solutions to employers, participants, brokers, and consultants that we serve.”
Ms. Dietel, a highly regarded expert in benefits and compliance industry, will continue to serve in her current capacity and report to Mr. Jackson. She also will continue serving in leadership positions within benefits industry associations, including ECFC and SIGIS.
About WageWorks, Inc.
Founded in 2000, WageWorks helps employers support consumer directed pre-tax benefit programs, including health care (FSA, HSA, HRA), wellness programs, child and elder care, commuting services, education benefits, and employee sponsored programs, such as gym reimbursement. Wage Works also offers retiree health care and COBRA Services. More than 100 of America's Fortune 500 employers and millions of their benefits-eligible employees use WageWorks' programs. As the cost of living continues to rise and more health care costs are pushed to employees, WageWorks seeks to eliminate barriers to benefit participation so families and individuals can save money and improve their overall well-being.
WageWorks provides easy-to-use benefits programs that help save time, and educational tools and resources to increase employees' knowledge and understanding of their family's health care and financial needs. WageWorks is headquartered in San Mateo, CA, with offices in New York, Tempe, AZ., Mequon, WI, Kansas City, KS, Lombard, IL, Troy, MI and now Vista, CA. For more information, please visit www.wageworks.com.
Read the official press release here.
August 2008
Jody also serves on the Board of Directors for the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation. Rock J. Hall, CPA, CFCI also speaks on the topic of Building Value in your Business during the Survival Techniques track for advanced practitioners.
July 2008
Please join us in congratulating Roselyn Vizcarra for her promotion to Manager, Business Development. Roselyn has been with Creative Benefits for more than 3 years. She is Certified in Flexible Compensation and has held a variety of roles within Creative Benefits, including that of a Benefit Specialist, with Account Management responsibilities, Technical Team Lead in Client Services and Supervisor of Client Services. Roselyn also has marketing and business development experience through previous retail experience. Roselyn's contact information: rvizcarra@wageworks.com, direct: 760.509.0161, fax: 760.414.3009, cell:760.505.8977.
June 2008
CB's Summer 2008 newsletter outlines several articles regarding Publication 502, HSA's, HEART Act and the new mileage reimbursement rate for medical expenses. Read it now.
Costco currently accepts Visa issued signature debit cards in their Pharmacy, Hearing Aid and Optical areas only. MasterCard issued signature debit cards are not accepted. No Visa or MasterCard transactions of any kind are accepted through the front end registers of a Costco warehouse. In the fall of 2008, Costco will implement an IIAS program. Until that time, transactions are being authorized with the SIC code specific to that area of the warehouse. (Pharmacy, Optical, Hearing).
May 2008
CB has received this honor five years in a row from the San Diego Business Journal.
April 2008
We're entering our 20th year of business. CEO, Jody L. Dietel counts the last year as one of the most rewarding ever. CB staff will celebrate with dinner and an address by Senior Management regarding the State of the Company. Other activities include breakfast and lunch served during the day for all staff.
March 2008
March 3, 2008: The quarterly meeting of the Board of Directors of the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation will be held at the offices of Creative Benefits, Inc. on March 10 and 11, 2008. CB's CEO, Jody L. Dietel, CFCI is a member of the Board of Directors for both the Employers Council on Flexible Compensation and the wholly-owned subsidiary of ECFC, The Flexible Compensation Institute, LLC., which governs certification of practitioners in the areas of flexible compensation, transit and parking, consumer driven health, COBRA, cafeteria plans, Flexible Spending Accounts, HRAs, HSAs and HIPAA.
January 2008
Please join us in welcoming Linda S. Campbell to our team as Director of Client Services. Linda's relationship with Creative Benefits, Inc. started in her role as our key contact at one of our largest clients. She has also obtained TPA experience since leaving the client side. This experience will enable Linda to immediately impact our operations.
Linda starts on Monday, January 21 and will provide direction for CB's Client Services departments. I'm thrilled with the added dimension Linda brings to our Executive Team and the future of CB. Linda can be reached at lcampbell@wageworks.com or 760.509.0132.
The topic was Cafeteria Plan Election Changes
In her role as Director of Human Resources, Susan will continue to help us manage our most important asset and resource, staff! Under Susan's direction, we have significantly reduced turnover, increased morale, and successfully introduced a more effective collaborative environment.
Susan has been an ad hoc member of the executive team for some time and provides critical insight and direction to the Executive Team and to the CEO/COO with respect to business operations, culture, benefits, personnel, compensation, training and other initiatives. This promotion formalizes her role on that team.
Susan holds her insurance licence, is an SPHR, and CFC. Congratulations, Susan.
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