Can FSAs be used for food? 3 things you need to know this week in employee benefits

Employer asks: Can employees use FSAs to cover food expenses?

In a recent Workforce forum, one employer asked if an employee with Celiac Disease (a gastrointestinal disorder that requires a specialized diet) could use her health care flexible spending account to purchase gluten-free food items—which could be termed medically necessary to control her disease. Among the scores of receipts the poster had to wade through were several for gluten-free beer!

Is gluten-free food (and alcohol) eligible for FSA reimbursement? Visit the Workforce forums to leave a comment and see what other benefits professionals had to say.

One crucial thing your wellness plan might be missing: Zzzzzzzs

Poll numbers from Virgin Pulse Institute reveal that 30% of employees are unhappy or very unhappy with the quality or quantity of their sleep, 76% feel tired many days of the week and 15% doze off during the day at least once per week.

All that sleep deprivation is also depriving employer-based wellness programs from achieving their full ROI, one Virgin official tells Employee Benefit News. Among other tips, the official suggests expanding employee wellness incentives to include tracking sleep patterns and adopting healthier sleep habits.

This week’s hidden gem: Working through ACA’s COBRA conundrum

A recent blog post in Forbes raises a costly problem related to the Affordable Care Act that’s received scant national and industry coverage: Employees who leave their jobs and opt for coverage continuation under COBRA are ineligible to apply for insurance through an exchange until ACA’s next enrollment period this November.

With the average family COBRA premium costing more than $1,000 per month, that’s a pretty big cost trap to fall into—particularly for a family that’s down one income in the first place.

The Forbes post warns consumers of common scenarios under which they’d fall into the ACA-COBRA gap, and quotes an employment attorney who’s leading the charge to file a petition with the White House to get President Obama to fix the issue via executive order.