.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Hae paperwork and waiting for reimbursements from your flexible-spending account?

The answer for many FSA users may be a debit card issued by their plan that enables them to directly access their accounts for purchases of prescriptions, over-the-counter medicines and doctor’s visits.

Greater merchant acceptance of the cards is leading to a groundswell of Iowa employers that will offer the payment option for the first time next year, said Gary Bishop, co-owner of Kabel Business Services, a flex-plan administrator in Des Moines.

Many of the largest retail pharmacies, including Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Target, Dahl’s and Hy-Vee Inc., have established the systems needed to properly segregate eligible and non-eligible purchases, he said.

Bishop estimated that 75 percent of the companies renewing their flex plans for 2008 have opted to offer the debit cards. About 10 to 15 percent of those businesses chose to absorb the cost for the cards, which is $18 per employee, he said. “We have had a number of employers say, ‘If our employees want it, we’ll do it,'” he said.

At Orchard Place, a not-for-profit juvenile services agency in Des Moines, about 20 employees signed up for the cards this past year, and it appears a few more people plan to use them in 2008, said Val Saltsgaver, the organization’s chief financial officer. “It’s been a moderate success, is how I would put it,” she said, noting that the majority of those who tried it this year plan to get a card again in 2008.

“I really think that by the end of year two we’re going to start getting more support for it,” she said.

Bishop said most physicians’ offices in Greater Des Moines that have debit card readers can accept the flex-account cards, but that acceptance by clinics and hospitals is more sporadic. Cardholders who want to use the system at a particular health-care provider should notify their benefits administrator to have the provider added, he said.

Principal Financial Group Inc., which administers flexible-spending accounts for approximately 76,000 participants at about 1,400 companies nationwide, has issued approximately 25,000 debit cards so far, spokeswoman Sonja Sorrel said.

We think this is really going to take off over the next two years,” she said. “With the verification process, it’s a lot easier for people to use.”