| News from Washington |
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| 2025 Health FSA, Other Health and Fringe Benefit Limits Set On October 24, the IRS released the 2025 contribution and benefit limits for health FSAs, QSEHRAs, long-term care policies, transportation fringe benefits and adoption assistance programs. The 2025 figures reflect the increase in inflation for the 12 months ending August 31, 2024, after applying statutory rounding rules. Read More |
| IRS Relief Now Available to Flood Victims in the Juneau Area; Multiple Deadlines Postponed to May 1, 2025 The IRS announced disaster tax relief for individuals and businesses in the Juneau area of Alaska, affected by flooding that began on August 5, 2024. Affected taxpayers now have until May 1, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns, make tax payments, and make 2024 contributions to IRAs and HSAs. Read More |
| White House Says Health Insurance Needs to Fully Cover Condoms, Other Over-the-Counter Birth Control Millions of people with private health insurance would be able to pick up over-the-counter methods like condoms, the “morning after” pill and birth control pills for free under a new proposed rule. Right now, health insurers must cover the cost of prescribed contraception, including prescription birth control or even condoms that doctors have prescribed. Read More |
| Compliance Corner |
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| The Importance of Compliance: HSA and FSA Tips and Reminders HSAs and FSAs are popular options that can play a central role in protecting the health and financial futures of employees. It’s important to stay current with IRS guidelines and other changes to FSA and HSAs to ensure employees use–and get the most value from–these important financial benefits, and to protect the integrity of your company’s benefits. Read More |
| Industry News |
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| How the Rise of HSAs Has Made Lively’s Growth Skyrocket Saving your life may start with a savings account. Here’s how the Bay Area’s fastest-growing private company of 2024 is building its business by helping deal with health care costs and has sky-high customer retention. Read More |
| Market Trends |
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| Rising Premiums Challenge Small Businesses to Offer Health Insurance, Despite Benefits A new report by Gusto suggests it’s in the best interest of most small businesses to offer their employees’ health insurance. The benefits of offering health insurance are profound, from lower turnover to higher productivity. However, steadily rising premium costs are putting this seemingly no-brainer decision out of reach for many small business owners. Read More |
| Open Enrollment or a Root Canal? Some Young Americans Prefer the Latter More than half of Millennials and Gen-Zers who participate in open enrollment said they have blindly chosen a health insurance plan in the past because they didn’t understand the complicated terms and definitions. This is more than double the percentage of Gen X and older adults who say they have done so, the survey found. Read More |
| Almost 75% of ACA Buyers Will Not Compare Plans for 2025 The vast majority of the millions of individuals in the ACA market for health coverage lack critical information necessary to make informed and confident decisions about their insurance in 2025, according to a new report. Uncertainty about the deadline to enroll and lack of awareness about changes impacting their premiums and coverage are common. Read More |
| Best Practices |
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| 4 Tips to Increase HSA and FSA Adoption and Engagement HR teams are well served to treat open enrollment a bit like a brand-new school year. Employees are often better prepared for a satisfying experience when first reviewing the basics of HSAs and FSAs, revisiting the highlights, and reminding them about the important tax advantages these accounts offer. Here are 4 tips to increase adoption and engagement of HSAs and FSAs. Read More |
| Cater to Your Entire Workforce with FSA/HSA Eligibility Nearly half of employees say they do not fully understand all their benefit options. Even though FSAs and HSAs have been around for years, it pays to remind employees each year during open enrollment – and throughout your plan year – about the health and tax advantages these accounts offer. Consider these tips to improve employee literacy about their health benefits and how to make the most of their FSA or HSA. Read More |
| HSAs & Retirement |
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| Health Savings Accounts Offer Investors ‘Unmatched’ Tax Benefits, Expert Says. Here’s How to Take Advantage According to one survey, 50% of U.S. adults say they don’t understand how HSAs work. That can be an expensive miss: HSA benefits are “unmatched, really, relative to Roth IRAs or 401(k)s,” says Christine Benz at Morningstar. “You just don’t see tax benefits like that.” Here’s what to know about HSAs, and how to take advantage of them. Read More |
| A Stealth Way to Grow Your Savings for Retirement If you have a Health Savings Account, you might be tempted to leave it in cash to cover current medical bills. But there’s a good case for using HSAs, as they’re known, to build savings for retirement. That could mean using the accounts to own an S&P 500 index fund or even growth companies like Apple and Nvidia. Read More |
| 401(k)-to-HSA Balance Transfer? No. But Maybe This’ll Work . . . Unfortunately, you cannot directly roll over funds from your 401(k) or 403(b) plan to an HSA. Rollovers from a retirement account to an are limited to IRAs only. If you can move funds from your 401(k) or 403(b) plan to an IRA, you can then execute the rollover. Read More |
| Maximizing Your HSA |
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| Open Enrollment Time? Here’s What You Need to Know About HSAs. If you’re facing open enrollment, you may see an HSA-qualified medical plan among your options. If you’re not enrolled on this coverage, it’s time to take a second look. When you consider it holistically – both medical and financial implications – you may find that it’s your optimal coverage. Read More |
| How to Open an HSA If You’re Self-Employed For self-employed individuals, managing healthcare costs can be challenging without the benefits of employer-sponsored insurance. An HSA can be an effective tool for covering out-of-pocket expenses while reducing taxable income. Opening an HSA is a straightforward process. Here are five general steps to open an HSA. Read More |
| Are Health Savings Accounts Tax Deductible? Medical expenses are a part of life and can arise at any time. Most people need a safety net to manage these unexpected health expenses. One strategy may be to use a Health Savings Account. Find out whether you’re eligible for an HSA, the benefits and contributions, and the answer to the question, “Are HSA contributions tax deductible?” Read More |
| Consumer-Driven Health Care |
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| Walmart to Offer Same-Day Prescription Drug Delivery Walmart is jumping into same-day prescription drug delivery in direct competition with its rival Amazon and struggling drugstores. Walmart said its drug delivery service is already live in six states — Arkansas, Missouri, New York, Nevada, South Carolina and Wisconsin — and will come to another 43 states by the end of January. Read More |
| Transparency Has Led to Uniformity in Healthcare Costs—but Not Necessarily Lower Prices: White Paper Price transparency regulations are leveling the cost landscape for consumers, but that doesn’t always lead to lower prices, according to a new report. Since the regulations were established, the top 25% of prices fell by 6.3% but the bottom 25% increased by 3.4% after adjusting for inflation. Meanwhile, the middle 50% of prices decreased just 1.1%. Read More |
| Health Care Consumers Face Affordability Crisis, Seeking Tech Solutions Rising costs and emerging technology are changing the face of health care in the United States. PwC’s 2024 U.S. Healthcare Consumer Insights and Engagement Survey revealed four trends that create both concerns and opportunities for the industry. Read More |