Annual FSA forfeitures across the U.S. are estimated in the billions. The standard industry explanation is that members don't plan ahead, or don't know what's eligible. Both are partly true. But the deeper truth is that the tools members use to check eligibility are not built for the moment of decision.
The moment of decision is the aisle. A member is standing in the pharmacy. They have an FSA balance. They're holding a product. They want to know — in the next 8 seconds — whether the product is eligible. The legacy answer is: "call this number," or "check our 47-page PDF," or "submit a reimbursement and we'll let you know."
The modern answer is: scan it. Open the camera. Point at the product. The app says yes or no. That single UX change moves the eligibility decision from a desk-based, post-purchase chore to an aisle-based, pre-purchase moment.
The effect on forfeitures. When members can see in real time that a product is eligible, they spend their FSA dollars on it. When they can't, they often skip the spend, forget about the balance, and forfeit at year-end.
Modernizing FSA eligibility UX is the highest-ROI fix in consumer-directed benefits, and it costs the provider almost nothing to ship. The reason most legacy providers haven't shipped it is that they've prioritized other things — usually carrier integrations and float optimization.
If you want to see what a modern eligibility experience looks like, see the member app or book a demo.