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Flexible spending account (FSA) holders forfeited an estimated total of $7.2 billion in 2019 and 2020, a much higher amount than previously estimated, according to new data obtained and exclusively analyzed by Money.

FSAs allow millions of employees to use pre-tax dollars for approved health-related expenses, including copays, prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines. The catch: If you enroll, IRS rules require you to spend the money you contribute into your account by an annual deadline. In other words, if you don’t use it, you lose it: the money is forfeited.

More than 40% of workers with FSAs forfeited at least part of their account contributions in recent years, according to new data that the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) shared with Money. On average, they lost between $339 and $408 a year by not using up all of their FSA money by the spending deadline. All that forfeited FSA money isn't tracked closely by the federal government, and it's likely those billions of forfeited dollars ended up going right back into employers' pockets.