| Read the latest news about Health Savings Accounts and consumer-driven health care. |
| News from Washington |
| Democrats Face Tough Choices on Biden Plan After Manchin Setback Democratic leaders are facing painful decisions and intra-party tensions as they look for a path forward on President Biden’s sweeping climate and social spending bill. But Democratic leaders and the White House, seeking to salvage a key piece of their legislative agenda, are vowing to push forward, even as they face uncertainty about what comes next. Read More |
| Democrats Look to Scale-Back Biden Bill and Get It Passed Momentum is growing for narrowing the scope of President Biden’s social spending and climate package as Democrats seek a way to get a package through the Senate with Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) support. Manchin effectively killed a much more wide-ranging bill, known as the Build Back Better Act, by announcing his opposition, deeply disappointing and angering the White House and fellow Democrats. Read More |
| Democrats Confront Rising Retirements as Difficult Year Ends House Democrats are facing a growing wave of retirements as they close out 2021 and enter what’s expected to be a challenging midterm election year. The string of retirement announcements in recent days cap off what’s already been a demoralizing end to Democrats’ first year in power of Washington. More retirement announcements are likely in the coming days and weeks. Read More |
| HSA Compliance Corner |
| For Illinois and Tennessee Tornado Victims, IRS Extends 2021 Tax-Filing Deadline, Other Deadlines to May 16 Victims of this month’s tornadoes in parts of Illinois and Tennessee will have until May 16, 2022, to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments, the Internal Revenue Service announced. This is the same relief already provided to storm victims in Kentucky. This means that affected taxpayers will have until May 16 to make 2021 IRA (and HSA) contributions. Read More |
| The HSA Market |
| Record Number of Americans Sign Up for ACA Health Insurance A record 13.6 million Americans have signed up for health coverage for 2022 on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces, with nearly a month remaining to enroll in most states. President Joe Biden’s top health advisers credited the increased government subsidies for the surge in enrollment. They also said enhanced personal assistance and outreach helped connect more people to health insurance plans. Read More |
| HSAs & Retirement |
| These Are Americans’ Top 3 Concerns About Their Retirement According to a recent Goldman Sachs survey, 44% of retirees indicated they had concerns about future healthcare needs. This is unsurprising, given the whopping cost of medical care late in life. Preparing for such a large expense should ideally start early, and current workers who are eligible for an HSA should strongly consider saving in it for their future care needs. Read More |
| Maximizing Your HSA |
| Transfer IRA Money to an HSA Did you know you can make a one-time, penalty- and tax-free rollover of money from your IRA to your HSA? The process is officially known as a qualified HSA funding distribution. You can only roll funds from an IRA to an HSA once during your lifetime. The maximum amount you can rollover is the same as your annual HSA contribution limit for that year. Read More |
| Only a HSA Plan Enrollees’ Expenses Can Be Reimbursed Tax-free? Nope! A key point of confusion among HSA owners is the concept that they can’t make tax-free distributions from their accounts for some family members’ qualified expenses, even if the family member is covered on their medical plan. And they can reimburse qualified expenses incurred by some family members who aren’t enrolled in their medical coverage. Read More |
| Consumer-Driven Health Care |
| 5 Surprising Items You Can Pay for With a Health Savings Account While some people put money away in HSAs as an extra tax-free retirement account to use for older age medical costs, you can always use the pre-tax contributions for more pressing medical needs. Here are a few examples of costs that can be covered with your HSA money. Read More |
| Commercial Prices for Common Hospital Procedures Often Exceed Cash Prices The discounted cash prices hospitals set for common procedures are often lower than the rates they negotiate with insurers, new research shows. The proportion of hospitals that set their cash price below their median commercial negotiated price ranged from 38.4% for liver tests to 68.5% for C-section deliveries. Hospitals were less likely to disclose the prices of more expensive services, the study says. Read More |