SAVE Award 2011 Ideas

The USDA NRCS & FSA have long since been sister agencies. Traditionally FSA has been the financial assistance provider and NRCS has been the technical assistance provider. In the last 10 years, the nature of these agencies has changed somewhat with the majority of change being that NRCS has become a significant provider of financial assistance to farm producers in addition to technical assistance. It would be inthe... more »

There is a very high administrative cost to handle the federal FSA program for both the administrators and for employees. Either eliminate it or put a cap on it and reimburse employees for the capped amount, no questions asked.

Provide a Flexible Spending Account debit card, that employees can use to pay for co-pays, prescriptions, and other out-of-pocket medical expenses. This will eliminate the need for employees to submit claims, and reduce the processing required by the FSA program, thus saving operating expenses.

We could increase our revenue by billons each year, if we sold crop insurance instead of independent agents. We (the tax payers) pay millions to crop insurance agents to subsidize the Farmers crop insurance premiums that they pay for the coverage. This amount is to do the paper work. We already do their paper work, with the added saving that there would be each office could hire an additional full time employee to just... more »

This program incentivizes everyone to figure out a way to save a few bucks on a sure bet since you do a hard calculation about how much you will spend for child care, dental, medical extras, etc. and then request that much be withheld. Rather, policies ought to be about reducing costs over all, not about penny pinching over small amounts that require fiddling with the FSA system and making bets about how to keep money... more »

Since FSA is on such a tight budget, I think we should be purchasing certain items in bulk. I suggest we do it district wide but it could also be done state wide. Items like toner & paper would be a good place to start. Most items you need to have a minimum order anyway and it usually gets cheaper the more you buy. The District Director could have a Credit Card just for those type of purchases.

I'm a long time employee of USDA and I think that farmers should pay a small portion of taxes on all of their equipment. Our state doesn't even tax their equipment. On my little $2000 camper I pay more tax than a farmer does on a $200,000 piece of equipment. I realize that with the price of equipment that the rate should be alot lower than regular taxes, but that would really be a money maker if they just had to pay a... more »

FSA is a good idea. It allows employees to pay for the out of pocket medical costs with their pre-tax dollars. The problem is that with the new health care law, the system has gone from "anything's eligible" to a confusing system where many less expenses are eligible. I get it that the system needed to be fixed, but it's ridiculous that participants must now 1)figure out what's reimbusable; 2)figure out how it gets reimbursed... more »

The mission of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is to “promote and support philanthropy through a program that is employee focused, cost-efficient, and effective in providing all federal employees the opportunity to improve the quality of life for all.” For many of us that participate in the Federal Flexible Spending Account program (FSAFEDS), the unused remaining balance is forfeited at the end of the year (after... more »