Employer guide to Health Savings Accounts

“Let’s get the consumer in the game. The idea behind HSAs is a ‘supercharged IRA’ for health care...No other program is as tax advantaged.” –John W. Snow, Treasury Secretary “...HSAs can drastically lower an employer’s costs of providing employee health benefits. This may allow more small businesses to offer such benefits.” –Fed Brock, The New York Times “These accounts give workers the security of insurance against major illness, the opportunity to save tax-free for routine health expenses, and the freedom of knowing you can take your account with you whenever you change jobs.” –President George W. Bush “Laing’s new book (The Small Business Guide to HSAs) lives up to its name...an excellent explanation of how HSAs work...” –Greg Scandlen, The New York Post The Consumer’s Guide to HSAs answers the question “What’s in it for Me?” But responsibility doesn’t stop there. You must read your medical reports, check statements, and count your pills carefully. Ask questions. Keep records for future use, and soon you will realize as much of the benefits of consumer-driven health care and HSAs as possible.

In this article, the authors describe certain interpretive issues raised by the newly enacted HSA rules, and make suggestions as to how these issues can be resolved by the IRS in a manner that supports the legislative goals underlying these new rules and helps ensure that HSAs will be successful. Their principal suggestion is that the IRS must interpret the HSA rules in a way that is consistent with common practice (and common sense) for health care plans. While the HSA rules clearly do require high-deductible health plans, the HSA rules do not require that insurers and employers change the core mechanics of their health plans in ways that will make HSAs unattractive to most people. If the IRS goes beyond merely requiring an increase in deductibles and requires other changes to the way health plans operate, the authors submit that HSAs will not be broadly accepted by consumers in the marketplace and financial institutions are unlikely to even offer HSA accounts.

Whether you're a current or prospective HSA owner. . . a financial, investment, or retirement advisor . . a benefits advisor . . . or a human resources professional, this book is a must-have addition to your library. And the information that it contains is invaluable to your financial future.You'll read about the opportunity that HSAs provide to maximize medical equity in retirement. You can save for retirement medical expenses in a traditional retirement account, but you won't maximize your spending power unless those funds are in a tax-perfect HSA.Turn to this book for thorough information and tips tohelp you answer such questions as:¿ "What are the financial benefits of owning an HSA?"¿ "What makes an HSA the tax-perfect account?"¿ "How do HSAs compare with traditional and Roth401(k) plans and IRAs?"¿ "How can I (or my client) maximize the opportunity?"¿ "What is medical equity?"¿ "What considerations should drive my (or my client's)Medicare enrollment timing?"¿ "What are the most common HSA compliance risks?"

This book is the owner's manual that did not come with your HSA. Health Savings Accounts are becoming a more common part of average Americans' lives. Paired with HSA-qualified health plans, they cover a growing number of Americans' health care costs. And the trends indicate that they'll become an even more important part of more people's health care in the future. This book is designed to help you understand HSAs and HSA-qualified health plans. When you enroll in these plans, you often receive a mass of literature about the health plan, outlining what services are covered, your cost-sharing, exclusions, rules to follow, and how to appeal a claim denial, among other topics. You probably received some information about the HSA itself from your trustee. It most likely came in the form of a glossy twelve-page brochure with pictures of smiling families and caring doctors, plus some very basic information about how to set up your account, how much you could contribute, and a partial list of expenses eligible for tax-free distribution. That level of information is simply inadequate for you to manage your HSA. If you rely on that information alone, you'll probably end up doing something inadvertently that runs afoul of HSA rules and regulations. Even if your HSA custodian is the rare one that provides adequate and easy-to-understand information in its printed materials and online to keep you in compliance, you'll never learn how to maximize the benefit of your HSA. HSA trustees simply do not provide this information. So where do you turn for complete information on remaining compliant with HSA rules and regulations and maximizing the short-term and long-term tax advantages of your HSA? Right here, with this book. HSA Owner's Manual is the most comprehensive guide to HSAs available anywhere. This book is the owner's manual that did not come with your HSA. If you follow the advice in this book, you'll keep your HSA in compliance with current HSA rules and regulations. You'll also learn about sources of updated information as the IRS releases new rules and interpretations and as the Department of Health and Human Services issues health care reform regulations that impact HSAs. Your HSA trustee may offer similar information, but probably not in an easy-to-understand format and certainly not in a single volume. In addition, this book delivers information that no HSA trustee offers-strategies to help you maximize your financial opportunity as an HSA accountholder. You'll learn how to integrate your HSA into your short-term tax savings and longterm asset building strategies. You'll receive information that will help you determine when you should use your HSA as a reimbursement account and when you'll benefit from utilizing it as a long-term financial asset. May your journey through the pages of this book reduce your confusion about your HSA and help you embrace it to unlock its hidden value for your long-term financial health.

HSAs stand for Health Savings Accounts - a new U.S. Government program, similar to IRAs, offering a tax-sheltered way to pay for health care costs and still accumulate tax-free savings for retirement health costs. HSAs became national policy in 2003 and are becoming more popular year by year.

Simplifying and understanding health care in America. In 2004, Congress created Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) with the intention of putting the brakes on runaway health care costs. The concept was simple: Get people to start thinking about health care expenses the same way they think about other goods and services they buy. But what started as simple idea has proven to be difficult for many to understand and implement. This book simplifies HSAs and their corresponding HDHPs for business owners and managers alike. • Covers how HSAs and HDHPs work, the pros and cons of them, how to install them, strategies for getting the most out of them, and how paychecks and taxes are affected • U.S. health care costs were nearly $1.7 trillion in 2003. • According to a national survey, 81% of large and 78% of small companies are considering implementing HSAs by 2006