FRESNO, Calif. (KMPH) -
2013 is right around the corner and with the start of a new year come some major changes to your health care benefits.
For years American companies have been able to set up flexible spending accounts, which allow workers to put aside "tax free" money to deal with medical expenses not covered by their insurance, such as deductibles.
For years there was never a limit.
But now critics say thanks to President Obama's Affordable Care Act of 2010 the amount a person can contribute is severely limited.
The maximum contribution anyone will be able to put into an FSA will be $2,500 a year.
Health care attorney Michael Goldring says, "It's not helping out the middle class it's not helping out the lower class or upper class, or anyone else. It's another problem and a surprise, and I suspect when they passed it they didn't know it would do."
Fresno State Political Science Professor Dr. David Schecter says, "This is going to impact a very tiny percentage of Americans, this is not a tax on the middle class."
Professor Schecter says it could be worse the president could have gotten rid of the FSA's all together.
He adds dependant care and adoption care plans will not be touched.
But come 2013, the amount you can contribute to a flexible spending account will be only $2,500.
