| News from Washington |
| House Ways and Means Committee Expands Health Benefit Options, Increases Flexibilities for Small Business Workers Workers and small businesses would get more flexibility and choice in their health insurance benefits under six bills adopted by the Ways and Means Committee, including two changes for HSA-qualified plans. H.R. 3800 allows employers to offer pre-deductible coverage of chronic care health services, and H.R. 1843 permanently allows pre- deductible coverage of telehealth services. Read More |
| HSA Compliance Corner |
| My husband died and his HSA funds were sent to me. Do I have to pay taxes on it? My husband died and did not leave a will. I found a Health Savings Account and they sent me a check made out to me for the amount in his account. Is this my personal money? If the HSA bank sends me a 1099, will I still have to pay the taxes as if the money was given to me for my personal use? Read More |
| Are HSA-Plan Enrollees Barred from General Health FSAs? Pairing an HSA-qualified plan with a general Health FSA should raise a red flag among benefits advisors, employers, and workers. There is a place for this combination, but in most cases it’s restrictive, denying workers greater reductions in taxable income, balances to spend on qualified expenses in the future, and the flexibility to alter payroll deductions during the year to reflect changing needs. Read More |
| ChatGPT vs. Expert: Can You Have an FSA and an HSA? Can you have a health FSA and an HSA? That’s the question Retirement Daily recently posed ChatGPT as part of an ongoing series designed to determine whether readers can trust ChatGPT when it comes to questions about retirement. Here’s ChatGPT’s answer to our question. Read More |
| The HSA Market |
| Debate: Should Workers on Medicare Be Allowed to Fund HSAs? Members of Congress have recently introduced legislation that would change current law by allowing individuals to fund HSAs even after they are enrolled in Medicare, but those individuals would not be entitled to use HSAs to pay Medicare premiums and would not be entitled to penalty-free withdrawals after 65. We asked two professors to share their opinions about these proposals. Read More |
| Why Every Federal Employee Should Consider a Health Savings Account HSA-qualified plans are one of the cheapest health plan options available to federal employees. With an increase in HSA contributions for plan year 2024, HDHPs will offer additional value going forward. If you haven’t considered an HSA-qualified plan in the past, now is a good time to review whether it could help you save money on your current and future healthcare expenses or be an additional stream of income in retirement. Read More |
| Rising Healthcare Costs Discourages Consumers from Enrolling High healthcare costs are deterring individuals from enrolling in their health plans, according to HSA Bank’s sixth annual 2023 Health and Wealth Index report. Over half (51%) of respondents say rising costs are a “significant” barrier. HSA Bank notes that even among those who do participate in a health plan, most are uninformed about the costs they’re paying for healthcare. Read More |
| HSAs & Retirement |
| This Little-Known Tax Trick Can Help Turn Your Health Savings Account into a Retirement Money Pot — and the IRS Just Made It Easier to Do Millions of Americans could be missing out on a chance to turn their HSA into a retirement money pot, according to personal finance experts. And now, the IRS has announced the largest-ever increase to HSA contributions, meaning Americans will be able to stash away even more money than ever in 2024. Personal finance experts have turned to social media to share how savvy investors can use a lesser-known feature of HSAs to create a tax-free emergency fund. Read More |
| 6 in 10 Americans Aren’t Saving for Retirement—Here’s Where to Get Started Most Americans are saving at least some of their money, but not a lot of that money is making it into accounts designed for long-term goals. In fact, 6 in 10 Americans don’t have a retirement-specific account, per the survey. That number is even higher for millennial (66%) and Gen Z (73%) savers. But where to start? Find out where financial pros say to put your money first. Read More |
| Can You Drop Medicare Part A? Peter is 68 years old and still working. He enrolled in Medicare Part A two years ago because his company’s group health plan was terrible. He was probably going to need surgery and the hospital deductible was outrageous (his words). He changed jobs recently and his new employer’s policy is much better. He wants to set up an HSA. So how can he drop Part A? Read More |
| Maximizing Your HSA |
| The IRS Is Increasing Contribution Limits for Health Savings Accounts and You Should Take Advantage ASAP If you already have a Health Savings Account or will be transitioning to a high-deductible health insurance plan for 2024, there’s some good news. HSA Contribution limits will be increasing. How can you take advantage of this change? Now is a great time to come up with a plan. Read More |
| What’s the Right Number of Investment Options in an HSA? As HSA balances continue to grow, administrators have an opportunity to encourage more account owners to invest their balances to achieve returns that exceed medical inflation. The design of the investment program – education, ease of access and use, range of options – plays a key role in determining how many owners invest how much of their balances. Read More |
| My Husband Switched Jobs and Our Deductible Skyrocketed. Here’s Why That Didn’t Bother Me Last year, my husband switched jobs, and that meant getting a new health insurance plan. It also meant going from a $0 deductible to a $3,000 deductible. But I’m actually not bothered by it. Switching over to our new high-deductible health insurance plan meant being able to fund an HSA for the first time in our lives. And HSAs offer a host of tax benefits. Read More |
| Consumer-Driven Health Care |
| 5 Tips for Managing Medical Expenses A survey from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors found that 28% of adults went without some form of medical care in 2022 because they couldn’t afford it, and 23% of adults had an unexpected medical event in the past year, costing a median of $1,000 to $2,000. Here are five steps to better manage current and future medical expenses. Read More |
| Men: Here Are the Health Screenings You Need Many men put off going to the doctor unless they are really sick, but health screenings help catch problems before symptoms appear. So, how can you tell if a health screening or preventive care appointment is right for you? Here’s a comprehensive guide to the most important health screenings you need—and how often you should go—to stay on top of your health. Read More |