| News from Washington |
| IRS Announces Tax Relief for West Virginia Taxpayers Impacted by Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides The Internal Revenue Service announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in West Virginia that were affected by severe storms, flooding, landslides, and mudslides that began on April 11, 2024. These taxpayers now have until November 1, 2024, to file various federal individual and business tax returns, make tax payments, and make 2023 contributions to IRAs and Health Savings Accounts. Read More |
| Health Care Reforms Likely to Be Punted to Late This Year With Congress focusing on trying to pass 2024-2025 government spending bills, some bipartisan health care reforms will likely be punted to late this year, a partner at Mercer’s Law and Policy Group said during a recent webinar. This is includes extending telehealth flexibilities and HSA modernization. Read More |
| 2 Efforts to Overturn DOL Fiduciary Rule Advance in Separate House Committee Votes The Department of Labor’s Retirement Security Rule faces more opposition in the wake of a pair of votes by two separate House committees. The House Appropriations Committee voted to withhold agency funding to prevent DOL from spending money to administer, implement, or enforce the rule. The House Education and Workforce Committee sent a bill to the House floor that would disapprove the rule. Read More |
| HSA Studies & Analysis |
| Patients Less Likely to Seek Virtual Behavioral Care When Paying Out-of-Pocket Patients in high deductible health plans are less likely to seek telemental health visits when required to pay out-of-pocket, according to new study. The authors said the findings imply that the expiration of the pre-deductible telehealth coverage exception in January 2025 may reduce mental health service use, which could lead to worse clinical outcomes. Read More |
| Compliance Corner |
| Know Which Family Members’ Expenses Are HSA-Qualified You can withdraw funds tax-free from your Health Savings Account to reimburse all qualified expenses that you, your spouse, and your tax dependents incur. Note that this list may be different from the family members whom you cover on your medical plan. Read More |
Industry News
| Five Star Bank Is Branching Out into Telehealth For several decades, healthcare providers have offered a limited range of services in grocery and drug stores. Now, add financial institutions to the list of channels for extending healthcare access. Last November, Five Star Bank announced a partnership with the University of Rochester Medical Center that now includes telehealth services. Read More |
| HSA Administrator Discloses Healthcare Data Breach HealthEquity disclosed a healthcare data breach in a recent SEC Form 8-K filing. According to the filing, HealthEquity discovered the breach earlier this year through routine monitoring. The company discovered anomalous behavior on a personal use device belonging to a business partner. Read More |
| HSAs & Retirement |
| Seniors’ Top Healthcare Concerns Fall Within Health Savings Accounts’ Wheelhouse Many seniors’ concerns are related to the cost and availability of medical coverage and care. Health Savings Accounts can help reduce this angst by delivering greater spending power to their owners because of the lower tax friction (compared to other retirement-savings accounts) associated with contributions and distributions. Read More |
| If You’re Not Using This Account to Save for Retirement, You Could Be Leaving Cash on the Table Many people are saving for retirement in either an IRA, a 401(k), or a combination of both. But there’s a lesser-known retirement account that should also be on your radar — an HSA. What makes HSAs so great is that they effectively combine the tax breaks you get from both a traditional and Roth IRA or 401(k). Read More |
| Reality Bites for Gen X Retirement The first members of Gen X turn 59½ this month and can start withdrawing money from 401(k) and other retirement accounts without paying a penalty. But the Slacker generation might have been slacking off when it came to planning for retirement: Gen X consistently ranks in surveys as the least-prepared group for when they stop earning. Read More |
| Maximizing Your HSA |
| Maximizing Health Savings Strategies HSAs are known for their “triple tax benefits” with pre-tax contributions, tax-deferred growth, and tax-free withdrawals for qualifying medical expenses. Both short-term savings and long-term growth can be achieved by smart HSA strategies. Knowing the rules and deciding the best strategy are crucial to maximizing your savings through an HSA. Read More |
| How to Use an HSA to Build Wealth Health Savings Accounts are not only a tool for managing healthcare expenses but they can also be a powerful instrument for building wealth. By contributing the maximum allowable amount each year, you can accumulate significant savings over time. Read More |
| It’s July. Have You Performed an HSA Midyear Check-in? Does your HSA have enough funds to carry you through the second half of the year? And, if it does, is there more you could be doing to grow those funds? We’ve broken down how to know if you’re contributing enough to your HSA to cover costs for the entire year and whether or not you should invest with extra funds. Do your HSA mid-year check today! Read More |
| What Is a Health Savings Account: Benefits & Usage An HSA can be used to help cover medical expenses today and major healthcare-related expenses after retirement. If you qualify, you should certainly consider opening one, if only for the option to reap the tax rewards on your regular medications and doctor’s visits. It’s really easy to get HSAs and FSAs confused. They serve similar purposes, but they have some very significant differences. Read More |
Consumer-Driven Health Care
| Half of US Cancer Deaths Avoidable with Lifestyle Changes, ‘Alarming’ Study Says New research indicates that four in 10 cancer cases and half of all adult cancer deaths in the U.S. could be avoided by changing environmental and lifestyle factors, such as smoking, secondhand smoke, excess body weight, alcohol consumption, poor diet, physical inactivity, ultraviolet radiation, and viral infections known to cause cancer. Read More |