| News from Washington |
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| IRS Announces Tax Relief for Victims of Hurricane Helene; Various Deadlines Postponed to May 1, 2025 The IRS announced tax relief for individuals and businesses in parts of Florida that were affected by Hurricane Helene that began on September 23, 2024. These taxpayers now have until May 1, 2025, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. Florida taxpayers with due dates postponed earlier due to Tropical Storm Debby will also now have until May 1, 2025 to file and pay. Read More |
| Sen. Warren Issues Report to Boost Argument for Retirement Security Rule Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma.) has released a report concerning industry activity arguing that it provides evidence that supports the Department of Labor’s Retirement Security Rule. The report is based on an investigation that began in April 2024, looking into the prevalence of “perks and kickbacks” in the annuity and insurance industry. Read More |
| HSA Studies & Analysis |
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| New Research Findings Reveal Employers Who Contribute to HSAs See Double-Digit Growth in Employee Participation HealthEquity, Inc. released research that found that companies who both seed HSA contributions and match employee contributions see 15 percent higher participation than companies who don’t contribute. Further, matching and seeding individually each drives 11 percent higher participation in HSA programs. Read More |
| Are Health Savings Accounts Encouraging Unnecessary Health Spending? A New York University study highlights potential concerns about tax-favored health care accounts’ broader economic impact on health care spending. The study estimates that around 22% of individuals aged 19 to 64 years with employer-sponsored insurance currently utilize tax-advantaged health savings options, primarily through FSAs and HSAs. Read More |
| Devenir: HSA Deposit Rate Update – September 2024 As we move into the final quarter of 2024, HSA interest rates have continued their modest ascent across all balance tiers. As of September 30th, the average rate for $1,000 balances reached 0.45%, slightly up from 0.44% in June 2024. Higher balance accounts have also seen incremental increases, with $10,000 balances now averaging 0.56% (up from 0.55%) and $50,000 balances at 0.63% (up from 0.62%). Read More |
| Compliance Corner |
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| Are HSA Contributions Limited to Cash? Are There Any Exceptions? Contributions to your HSA must be in cash. However, you may be able to make an in-kind transfer of assets from another HSA you own or an IRA when you complete a trustee-to-trustee transfer. Read More |
| Social Security, Part A, POMS, and HSAs: What’s the Issue? Social Security recipients who are eligible to enroll in Medicare are automatically enrolled in Part A. But this provision affects Health Savings Account owners, who are disqualified from making or receiving contributions to their accounts if they’re enrolled in any Part of Medicare. How did we get here? And is there a way out? Read More |
| Industry News |
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| HSA Day 2024: Empower Your Health. Secure Your Future. Every year on October 15, WEX joins forces with their partners, employers, and other industry experts to share the value of HSAs, highlighting their importance in helping employees make informed benefits decisions, improve financial wellness, and enhance overall benefits engagement. Read More |
| HealthEquity Community Foundation Launches with Mission to Build Financial Literacy and Healthcare Confidence HealthEquity, Inc. announced the launch of its new HealthEquity Community Foundation. Dedicated to building healthcare literacy and confidence in communities across the United States. The Foundation’s initial focus will be on providing grants to nonprofit charitable organizations whose work is focused on one or more of four focus areas. Read More |
| Best Practices |
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| How Technology Can Help Employers Increase HSA & FSA Adoption With HSAs and FSAs, employees could save nearly 30% in taxes on every dollar contributed via payroll deductions, yet many don’t sign up. New technology, such as AI and automation is being introduced to help employees and employers manage these benefits accounts. Here are four ways to improve employee satisfaction and increase adoption of consumer health accounts. Read More |
| HSAs & Open Enrollment: 3 Ways to Demonstrate Value HSAs support employee wellness and offer important tax breaks. Yet many employees miss out on saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year for three reasons that you can easily resolve during open enrollment. Benefits advisors and HR professionals can use three communication and education tips to boost HSA participation. Read More |
| How to Help Your Employees Build a Nest Egg: Leveraging HSAs It’s crucial to help your employees find ways to save for healthcare in retirement. With the right plan in place, they have a greater chance of achieving their financial goals. HSAs can be a great way to help fill in gaps because Medicare doesn’t cover everything. By knowing how to promote HSAs and creating a system that maximizes these benefits, you can help your employees secure their financial future. Read More |
| HSAs & Retirement |
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| Retirement Savings: 6 Ways an HSA Could Be More Beneficial Than a 401(k) or IRA Most financial experts will recommend tax-advantaged accounts like 401(k)s, traditional IRAs, and Roth IRAs. However, there’s another type of account to consider: the HSA. HSAs are unique accounts that have some benefits your traditional retirement accounts do not. Here are some of the advantages an HSA has over other retirement accounts. Read More |
| How to Financially Prepare for Retirement if You Have Health Concerns Though Medicare covers most medical expenses for those aged 65 and older, it doesn’t cover everything. Everyone needs to build up a nest egg to fund uncovered healthcare-related costs in retirement — but folks who already have medical conditions need to be particularly aggressive with their planning. One of the most powerful weapons for attacking healthcare costs is an HSA. Read More |
| Facts About HSAs and Medicare Each year from mid-October through early December, we are inundated with commercials about the Medicare open enrollment period. For those signing up for the first time, the process can be daunting, and for those who have an HSA, it can be particularly confusing. Here is a quick guide to help you get started. Read More |
| Maximizing Your HSA |
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| How to Qualify to Open a Health Savings Account In today’s fast-paced world, managing healthcare expenses efficiently is more important than ever. One effective way to do this is by opening an HSA. But before you can take advantage of the benefits an HSA offers, it is crucial to understand the qualifications required to open one. Read More |
| How to Find the Best Health Savings Account In this episode of Investing Insights, I’ll talk with Morningstar, Inc. editor Margaret Giles about what you should know about HSAs and how to maximize their tax benefits. Margaret has co-written Morningstar’s Guide to HSAs. Then we’ll hear from Morningstar’s lead researcher from Morningstar who analyzes the landscape and rates top providers. Read More |
| Consumer-Driven Health Care |
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| You Can Use Your FSA and HSA Dollars to Buy a Shiny New Oura or Galaxy Ring: Here’s How Samsung announced that its Galaxy Ring is now FSA and HSA eligible, meaning the dollars you have set away in your flexible spending account or health savings account can be used for a Galaxy Ring purchase. In other news, you can also use your FSA or HSA money to buy an Oura Ring. Read More |
| 18 Costco Items You Can Pay for With Your HSA HSAs can help you reduce your health care costs by letting you put money into a tax-free savings account to pay for qualified medical care and medicines. Many retailers, including Costco, offer HSA- or FSA-eligible medicines. Here are 18 Costco items you can pay for with your HSA account, listed alphabetically. Read More |