| News from Washington |
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| DOL Files Last Minute Appeal of the Fiduciary Rule’s Stay The Department of Labor appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court to reverse a ruling from the District Court for Eastern Texas that temporarily suspended the implementation of the 2024 Retirement Security Rule, also known as the fiduciary rule. The move came three days before its original effective date. Read More |
| HSA Studies & Analysis |
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| Morningstar HSA Report: Lower Fees, Better Investments, But Lots of Room for Improvement Morningstar’s eighth annual landscape study on HSAs found meaningful improvements in HSA features—such as lower fees and better investment options—but also found substantial room for growth in the industry, with just four providers receiving an “Above Average” or better rating on both evaluated use cases. Read More |
| The Tax Code Will Be Rewritten in 2025. How Will HSAs Fare? Much of the federal tax code expires in 2025. Congress and the new president must act before the end of next year to maintain functional tax policy. Let’s look specifically at Health Savings Accounts and the opportunity during the next 15 months to help more consumers manage their growing out-of-pocket health-related expenses. Read More |
| Compliance Corner |
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| A Veteran’s Guide to Becoming or Remaining HSA-Eligible One of the shortcomings of HSAs is that Americans who would otherwise be eligible to open and fund an account can’t contribute because they’re enrolled in disqualifying medical coverage or have access to disqualifying medical care. For example, veterans are temporarily disqualified if they use services at a VA facility unless they have a service-connected disability. Sadly, most don’t understand the trade-offs. Read More |
| Can HDHPs Cover Breast MRIs and Ultrasounds at No Cost to Patients? An HDHP can likely cover breast MRIs or ultrasounds with or without cost-sharing prior to the HDHP minimum annual deductible being met because breast cancer screening is listed as a safe harbor by the IRS. Because IRS guidance does not specifically address breast MRIs/ultrasounds, health plans should discuss this issue with legal counsel. Read More |
| What Is a Qualified Medical Expense, According to the IRS? FSAs, HRAs, and HSAs all provide a tax-effective way of funding an employee’s health care expenses. But it is important for advisers to remember the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, as well as the IRS rules and regulations. People wanting reimbursements from these plans, and plan administrators, need to be aware of the rules and regulations. Read More |
| The Basics of LMNs for HR Teams FSAs and HSAs are often not fully understood and certain nuances are even commonly overlooked — until they become a challenge for an employee or plan participant, especially when it comes to a Letter of Medical Necessity (LMN). Now is the perfect time for a primer on FSA and HSA eligibility and how LMNs work. Read More |
| Industry News |
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| Empower Acquires Equity Compensation Platform OptionTrax Empower has acquired Plan Management Corp., the developer of OptionTrax. PMC’s technology, proprietary products, services, intellectual property, licenses and contracts are now wholly owned by Empower under the terms of the agreement. The firms did not disclose terms of the deal. Read More |
| Market Trends |
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| Businesses Shift Health Care Costs to Employees Amid Rising Outlays A recent survey reveals that businesses are increasingly shifting health care costs to employees due to rising plan expenses. Employers are considering strategies such as increasing health plan education, expanding wellness programs, and transitioning to high-deductible health plans. Despite these changes, employers continue to cover 80% of premiums for employee-only coverage. Read More |
| WTW: Employers Seeking to Avoid Cost-Shifting Even as Expenses Continue to Rise As employers face rising costs, many are looking to rethink plan designs rather than emphasize shifting expenses to workers, according to a new WTW report. Only 34% said that they intend to shift costs to employees by raising premiums. Twenty percent said they will push high-deductible health plans or account-based coverage to address costs. Read More |
| HSAs & Retirement |
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| Saving for Retirement? Here’s How Each Age Group Is Doing 401(k) balances tend to rise with age and tenure. So it should be no surprise that for those aged 25 and younger, the average 401(k) balance account is $7,351 and the median balance is $2,816, while those aged 65 and older have an average balance of $272,588 and a median balance of $88,488. Read more about 401(k) balances by age group. Read More |
| How Well Does the Bucket Approach to Retirement Planning Work in Practice? In this episode of The Long View, Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar, explains how the Bucket approach can help retirees, the pushback against this strategy, and how a fourth bucket can help you in retirement. Read More |
| Maximizing Your HSA |
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| Here’s Why I Don’t Use My Health Savings Account for Medical Costs A lot of people who have HSAs use the money as it comes in to cover medical expenses (a valid way to use them). However, my family uses ours a little differently. When my daughter needed braces, we paid $2,000 in cash rather than tapping our HSA. In fact, we pay out of pocket for all medical expenses we can and don’t touch our HSA. Here’s why. Read More |
| Consumer-Driven Health Care |
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| The Real Reasons Patients Prefer Telehealth Patients prefer telehealth to office visits for a variety of medical issues, including urgent care, preventive care, chronic care and specialty services, according to the results of a new consumer survey. Although patients place a high value on comfort, convenience, and seamless accessibility to care, it is also clear that many patients are not aware of the full breadth of telehealth offerings available. Read More |
| 5 Ways Today’s Health Habits Could Affect Your Future Retirement Expenses Your current health habits are one of the most commonly overlooked ways to increase your retirement savings. Medical expenses tend to increase as people age because lifestyle choices catch up with our bodies over time. Here are five ways today’s health habits could affect your future retirement expenses. Read More |