Category Archives: HSA Plans
Small Business Health Care Tax Credit: New IRS Guidelines
In late December the IRS issued more guidelines on the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit. Beginning with the 2010 taxable year, eligible small employers that offer health insurance coverage to their employees may qualify for a tax credit of up to 35% of the non-elective contributions they, the employer, make toward premium cost. The [...]
What Do We Really Know About Consumer-Driven Health Plans?
Employers began offering consumer-driven health plans in 2001, when a handful started offering HRAs. They then started offering HSA-eligible plans after the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 included a provision to allow individuals with certain high-deductible health plans to contribute to an HSA. Since the introduction of CDHPs in 2001, the [...]
Health Savings Accounts — Effect of Health Care Reform
The proposed legislation (health care “reform”) soon to be foisted on the American public contains some language that will affect Health Savings Accounts (HSA Plans, HSA Accounts). Most of the changes are minor, the impact of others cannot yet be determined. Effective 01/01/11 Over the Counter medications (OTC drugs) will no longer be eligible for [...]
Major HSA Disruptions
Sovereign Bank (Parent: Santander, NA) is exiting the Health Savings Account (HSA) business. That’s too bad — my firm has used and liked Sovereign’s program… not perfect, but pretty damned good. They’ve sold their business to Wells Fargo Health Benefit Services, a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (Wells Fargo). That’s too bad, too. We’ve [...]
Tax Treatment of Employee Benefits: an Update
IRS has released 2010 guidelines on tax treatments of employee benefits. You can get a copy here.
Consumer-Driven Health Plans Work
Employees covered by Consumer Driven Health Plans (CDHP) show that they work. The Employee Benefit Research Institute has published their annual Consumer Engagement in Health Care study and found that individuals in CDHPs were more likely than those with traditional coverage to exhibit a number of cost-conscious behaviors. They were more likely to say that [...]
What's a Medical Expense? It Matters to Your FSA
If your firm has an FSA (and these same thoughts apply to HRA plans and HSA plans, too) you’d best be aware of whether or not to reimburse certain expenses. In particular, section 213d itemizes the kinds of medical expenses that can be paid for by FSA, HSA and HRA accounts and that are deductible [...]
Interesting Statistic
I just came across this in the McKinsey 4th Quarter 2008 study that I’ve referred to before. It’s the report about the three things the US needs to do to really improve health care and reduce costs (1- Address personal behavior , such as obesity, that adds to health costs, 2- Increase cost transparancy so [...]
New 2010 HSA Guidelines
The HSA contribution limits for 2010 have been issued. Basic story is that: individual maximum allowable contributions have increased from $3,000 to $3,050. Family maximum contribution has increased from $5,950 to $6,150. In order to open an HSA, an individual must be covered by a Qualified High Deductible Health Plan (QHDHP). This year’s minimum single/family [...]
HSA Plans and Preventive Care
A common presumption by opponents of HSA plans is that employees will skip necessary preventive care because the money will have to come from them. Wrong. Every HSA plan in Massachusetts and most in the US cover preventive care without debiting the employee’s HSA account. That is, the carrier provides preventive care coverage. So the [...]