How does Service 1st Benefits support my business during open enrollment?

We personally manage the entire open enrollment process — from educating employees to handling enrollment forms and answering plan questions. Our goal is to make open enrollment smooth and stress-free for everyone.

Can employees contact you directly for help?

Yes. Employees can reach out to us anytime for questions about claims, coverage, ID cards, or plan details. We act as your team’s benefits partner, not just your broker.

What size businesses do you work with?

We specialize in serving small and medium-sized businesses, typically ranging from 1–200 employees. If you’re growing or planning to expand, we help scale your benefits as your team grows.

Do you handle communication with insurance carriers for us?

Absolutely. We take care of claims issues, employee changes, renewals, and any carrier communication so you don’t have to spend hours on hold.

Do you offer voluntary or supplemental benefits?

Yes. We can provide optional add-ons like disability, accident, or critical illness insurance to enhance your benefits package at little or no cost to the employer.

What types of group benefits do you offer?

We provide comprehensive group health, dental, vision, and life insurance options for small and medium-sized businesses. We help you compare plans, handle enrollment, and manage carrier communication.

What information do you need to provide a quote?

We typically need: Number of employees Basic employee census (age, gender, ZIP code) Current plan (if applicable) Desired benefits or coverage goals We keep the process as simple as possible.

Do you charge fees for your services?

No. Our services — including plan comparison, open enrollment, and year-round support — are provided at no additional cost to your business.

HSA vs. FSA: Which Actually Saves Your Employees More?

Service 1st Benefits

11 minutes ago

3 min read

"Which one should I pick?" is the wrong first question for an HSA vs. FSA decision — the real first question is whether an employee even has a choice at all, since HSA eligibility depends entirely on the health plan they're enrolled in. Once that's settled, the actual savings comparison comes down to a handful of real differences most employees never get walked through.

The Eligibility Question Comes First

A Health Savings Account is only available to someone enrolled in a qualifying High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) — for 2026, that means a plan with a minimum deductible of $1,700 for self-only coverage or $3,400 for family coverage. If an employee isn't on an HDHP, an HSA isn't on the table, full stop. A Flexible Spending Account has no such requirement — it's available regardless of which medical plan someone's enrolled in, which is exactly why it exists as the more universally available option.

What Each One Actually Lets You Save

For 2026, HSA contribution limits are $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage, plus an extra $1,000 catch-up contribution for anyone 55 or older. The 2026 Health FSA limit is $3,400 — separate accounts, separate limits, and an employee can't just pick whichever number is bigger, since eligibility for the HSA is what gates the whole comparison.

The Real Difference: What Happens to Unused Money

This is where the two accounts genuinely diverge. An HSA is the employee's money, permanently — unused funds roll over every year with no limit, the account stays with the employee if they leave the company, and after age 65 it can even be used for non-medical expenses penalty-free (though still taxed as income, similar to a traditional retirement account). An FSA is generally "use it or lose it" within the plan year, though many employers adopt either a grace period (extra time to spend last year's balance) or a limited carryover (a capped amount that rolls to the next year) — check your specific plan document, since neither is automatic and the amounts vary by employer.

A Fresh Wrinkle for 2026: Dependent Care FSA Just Changed

Here's a genuinely new detail worth knowing: the Dependent Care FSA limit is increasing to $7,500 for 2026 (from $5,000, married filing separately $3,750 from $2,500) — the first increase since 1986, made possible by a 2025 federal law change. The catch employers need to know: adopting the higher limit isn't automatic. A plan sponsor has to actually amend its plan document to allow the new ceiling — until that happens, an employer's plan may still cap contributions at the old $5,000 limit even though the law now technically allows more.

A Worked Example

Two employees at the same company each want to set aside money for predictable medical costs next year. Employee A is on the company's HDHP and can choose either account — they pick the HSA, since the funds roll over indefinitely and the account is theirs to keep if they change jobs. Employee B is on the company's traditional PPO plan and was never HSA-eligible in the first place — the FSA is their only account-based option, so the real decision for them isn't "HSA or FSA," it's how accurately they can predict next year's expenses, since unused FSA funds are generally forfeited.

What Employers Can Do

Don't present HSA vs. FSA as an open choice for every employee — it's only a real choice for people enrolled in an HDHP; frame it as an eligibility question first.
Confirm whether your Dependent Care FSA plan document has actually been amended for the new $7,500 limit — don't assume it updated automatically just because the law changed.
Make sure employees on FSAs know your plan's specific rollover or grace-period rule, since "use it or lose it" isn't universally absolute anymore, but the exception varies by employer.
Point out the HSA's post-65 flexibility during open enrollment, since most employees only think of it as a medical-expense account and don't realize the retirement-adjacent upside.

Final Thoughts

An HSA isn't simply "better" than an FSA — it's only available to some employees in the first place, and the two accounts solve genuinely different problems: one is a long-term, portable savings vehicle, the other is a shorter-horizon budgeting tool for predictable costs. Making sure employees understand which one they're actually eligible for, and what happens to unused money in each, does more for their savings than any general "which is better" framing would.