| News from Washington |
| Biden Signs Stopgap Funding Bill to Avert Shutdown President Biden on Friday signed legislation to fund federal government operations in the short term, averting a government shutdown before a midnight deadline. The continuing resolution Biden signed funds the government through March 15, buying time for a sweeping $1.5 trillion government funding bill to make it to Biden’s desk. Read More |
| Telemedicine Costs for Health Savings Accounts Eased by Omnibus Bill Employers can resume covering telehealth for workers with Health Savings Accounts before patients meet costly annual deductibles thanks to a provision in the omnibus spending bill approved by Congress. Without the legislative changes, employers wouldn’t be able to provide telehealth coverage for high-deductible plans that are linked to HSAs, and employees would lose their eligibility for HSAs. Read More |
| Limits on Insulin Costs Revived in Push for Senate Action Legislation to limit insulin costs for people with diabetes is getting revived in the Senate. Democrats say they want to move quickly, but they’ll need Republican support to get anything through an evenly divided chamber — and they’re not there yet. Read More |
| HSA Compliance Corner |
| Can You Fix a Mistaken Distribution from Your HSA? Yes, but Maybe Hurry! Have you withdrawn funds from your HSA to pay for something that’s not a qualified expense? If so, you can correct it. In fact, you must correct it to eliminate any tax liability and possible penalties. Beware that you must take action before the due date of your income taxes for the year in which the mistaken distribution occurred. For 2021, you must correct the error no later than April 18, 2022. Read More |
| The ACA Preventive Health Services Mandate The Affordable Care Act requires health plans to cover four broad categories of preventive services without any cost-sharing. The IRS has incorporated the ACA preventive health services mandate items into the HSA-related preventive care definition to ensure that HDHPs’ first-dollar coverage of the required ACA preventive services does not affect HSA-eligibility. Read More |
| HSA Industry Best Practices |
| Help Your Employees Make the Most of Their HSA This Tax Season Employers play an important role in helping their employees understand how to maximize their tax savings through their HSAs. Now is the time for employers to ensure their employees understand the importance of maximizing their HSA contributions. By encouraging employees to engage with their HSAs as long-term investment vehicles rather than just spending accounts, employers can help their employees reap strong financial awards this tax season and into the future. Read More |
| HSAs & Retirement |
| Move Over, 401(k)s: HSAs Are the New Retirement Trend If you participate in an HDHP offered by your employer, you may be sitting on one of the most powerful retirement accounts in existence and not even know it. An HSA is a special tax-advantaged account only available for participants in certain HDHPs. If you have an HSA, you may want to max out your contributions to the account before saving in any other type of account, even a 401(k). Read More |
| Maximizing Your HSA |
| An HSA Can Save Thousands in Taxes When You Need Tax Savings Most If you want to maximize your spending power in retirement, a Health Savings Account can play an important role. The fact that withdrawals aren’t included in taxable income or the calculations of provisional income and Medicare’s “Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount” means that you can put more in retirement with the same sacrifice of current consumption during your working years. Read More |
| Consumer-Driven Health Care |
| Amazon Pharmacy Teams Up With Blue Plans in 5 States to Roll Out Prescription Discount Savings Card Amazon Pharmacy is partnering with Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in five states and Prime Therapeutics to tackle the affordability of prescription medications. The online retail giant’s pharmacy arm is rolling out a prescription discount savings card that’s available to some Blues plan members. Read More |