| News from Washington |
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| IRS Announces Tax Relief for Taxpayers Impacted by Severe Storms in Kentucky; Deadlines Postponed to November 3 The IRS announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in the entire state of Kentucky affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, and landslides that began on February 14, 2025. These taxpayers now have until November 3, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns, make tax payments, and make 2023 contributions for IRAs and Health Savings Accounts. Read More |
| Advocates Lean on Trump’s Telehealth Legacy to Extend Expiring Flexibilities Three hundred and fifty organizations signed a letter to congressional leadership urging lawmakers to extend expiring Medicare telehealth flexibilities and to restore telehealth access lost by commercially insured patients in December. The organizations told Congress that they prefer to make the telehealth flexibilities permanent. Read More |
| Supreme Court Schedules Arguments in Case Where Trump Administration Is Defending ACA The Supreme Court scheduled arguments for April 21 in a case that could decide the legality of the ACA’s requirement that insurers cover certain preventive services. In a surprising move, the Trump administration said it will continue the Biden White House’s defense of that requirement. Read More |
| Trump Issues Executive Order to Crack Down on Price Transparency Rules for Hospitals, Payers President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reinforce rules, put into place during his first term, that push hospitals and payers to make healthcare prices more transparent for patients. The executive order directs the Treasury and Labor departments and HHS to ensure hospitals and insurers “disclose actual prices, not estimates” and take action to make prices comparable across hospitals and insurers, including prescription drug prices. Read More |
| HSA Studies & Analysis |
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| A Low Cost Way to Make More ACA Enrollees Eligible for Health Savings Accounts Millions of Americans buy high-deductible insurance plans on the ACA state insurance exchanges, and yet somehow very few of them qualify for an HSA. We propose that all HDHPs on the state exchanges that would otherwise be eligible for HSAs—absent their current higher out-of-pocket limits—be granted an exception as an HSA-qualified plan. Read More |
| Three Ways That Congress Could Help Seniors through Health Saving Account Expansion HSA champions in Congress are working behind the scenes to expand the accounts so that more Americans can reduce their net out-of-pocket financial responsibility for medical coverage and care. Seniors deserve special attention because they incur higher than average medical costs. Here are three proposals that Congress should consider to help American seniors. Read More |
| Best Health Savings Account Providers of 2025 When choosing the best HSAs, we examined companies’ interest rates, minimum deposit requirements, investment choices, managed account options, fees, customer tools, and customer service features. We used that information to narrow the list of HSA providers to a few clear winners. Fidelity is the best choice if you’re shopping on your own for an HSA. Read More |
| Compliance Corner |
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| The HSA Distribution Rules: Part II HSA distributions for unreimbursed qualifying medical expenses are tax-free where incurred after establishing the account by HSA owners or their eligible dependents. Non-medical distributions are subject to ordinary income tax and (if under age 65) a 20% additional tax. Read More |
| Little-Known HSA Requirements: Receipts and Recordkeeping With tax season in full swing, your employees may be sifting through shoeboxes full of receipts in an attempt to identify and organize qualified HSA expenses as part of their tax filing. But the more likely scenario is they’re completely unaware of the need to verify HSA purchases. Here’s what they need to know. Read More |
| Are HSA Contribution Limits Measured by the Plan Anniversary Date or the Calendar Year? The annual contribution limits to Health Savings Accounts are based on the calendar year (which is most taxpayers’ tax year). The anniversary date of the medical coverage is irrelevant to the tracking of your annual maximum. When your plan has a mid-year anniversary date, any coverage changes you make may affect your ability to open and fund your HSA during some months of the calendar year. Read More |
| HSA Best Practices |
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| More Than Just a Savings Account: How the Right HSA Provider Transforms Employee Benefits There is a big difference between offering a basic HSA plan that just deducts employee paycheck contributions each pay period and an integrated HSA plan designed to enhance health care savings. A well-structured HSA includes features, benefits, and educational support that empower employees to optimize their health care savings—both today and into retirement—ultimately maximizing their financial wellbeing. Read More |
| Market Trends |
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| 401(k), HSA Balances Increased Through 2024 Buoyed by bigger employee contributions, both 401(k) and HSA balances were up significantly at the end of 2024, compared to year-end 2023, according to analysis from Bank of America. The average 401(k) account balance at year-end 2024 was approximately $100,300, up 16% compared to year-end 2023, and the average HSA account balance at the end of 2024 was $5,000, up year-over-year from $4,400. Read More |
| HSAs & Retirement |
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| After Maxing Out Your 401(k), These Are the Next Steps If you’re in the habit of maxing out your 401(k), and you still have money left over to work with, that’s a great position to be in. And it’s one you should try to take advantage of. The first option to consider is to fund a Health Savings Account. HSA funds never expire, so you can carry your balance all the way into retirement and use it then, when your healthcare costs might be most substantial. Read More |
| 8 Disappointing Realities of Medicare For millions of people, Medicare is one of the pillars of retirement. The program provides health insurance for most Americans from the age of 65 through the rest of their lives. However, Medicare is not perfect. Some beneficiaries are surprised to learn of the program’s shortcomings. Following are some of the disappointing realities of Medicare. Read More |
| Consumer-Driven Health Care |
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| Health Plan Consumers Don’t Understand What They Are Buying, Report Warns A new report suggests many Americans choose their health insurance plan without understanding how plans work. Most people understand premiums and deductibles, but there is widespread confusion about prescription copays and out-of-pocket maximums. Understanding was greater for Health Savings Accounts than HSA-qualified plans. Read More |