Health Savings Accounts
Help Your Employees Manage Their Healthcare Finances and Prepare for the Future
Controlling costs and keeping your employees happy, healthy, and engaged is important to you. Offering a qualified high-deductible health plan (HDHP) paired with a health savings account (HSA) can be a powerful strategy to:
- Reduce premiums and spending
- Attract and retain talent
- Prepare employees to manage their growing healthcare responsibilities
- Empower employees to take charge of their spending
- Reduce your FICA and federal unemployment tax liability
What to know about HSAs
- An HSA allows your employees to set aside pre-tax dollars for eligible healthcare expenses
- HSAs must be paired with a high-deductible health plan
- Tax-free contributions can be made by employers or employees, up to the IRS limit. Click here for current limits.
- Money goes in, grows, and can be withdrawn tax-free (if spent on eligible items)
- Account stays with the employee, even if they change jobs or health coverage
- No use it or lose it rule
- Employees can invest savings for growth once they reach a balance of $1,000
Manage your American Benefits Group HSA program with ease
- User-friendly employer portal: Quick and easy access to the information you need, including employee status, debit card status, enrollee lists, contributions, payroll reconciliation, and much more.
- Flexible funding: Account contributions can be made in a variety of ways to suit your needs.
- Streamlined onboarding: Get your employees up and running smoothly. We can even provide electronic consent for transferring funds from an existing HSA solution.
Deliver a Better Employee Experience
The American Benefits Group HSA is a lifetime high savings vehicle that engages and delivers value for all employees, regardless of where they are in their healthcare journey: saving, spending, or investing.
Modern and personalized investment experience
Our modern and personalized investment experience helps employees grow their earnings and confidently prepare for the future.
- Three investment paths to fit individual needs and experience levels: Managed, Self-Directed, Brokerage
- Employees can change paths at any time
- Open an account, transfer funds, and make transactions in real time
- Employees can manage all aspects of their HSA, including their investments, from the same website and mobile app
Multi-purse debit card offers a convenient way to pay
- A single debit card is leveraged for all Health Benefit Account spending
- Provides easy, immediate, thought-free access to funds
- Automatically pays for eligible expenses from the right account
Next-generation WealthCare Portal and Smart Mobile App
- Gives your employees convenient anytime, anywhere access to their HSA
- View real-time balances and transactions, submit claims, view important account alerts, access investments, and much more.
- Our mobile app helps your employees get the most out of every dollar they spend, including:
- Virtual medicine cabinet and pharmacy discount card to save on prescriptions
- Find care to search for providers or procedure and drug prices
- Funding calculator to help save for the future
Employee engagement tools
- Triggered alerts and notifications via text and email keep your employees informed about their account
- Educational resources to help employees realize the benefits of an HSA
High-Yield Savings
- The High-Yield interest option can help employees earn higher interest on their HSA cash balance, making it a great way to maximize the savings potential of their HSA.
- Employees choose the interest rate option that best meets their needs: High-Yield or Traditional. They can change their option at any time via the WealthCare Portal or Smart Mobile App.
WealthCare Saver HSA Resources
Opt-In for Paper Statements
Opt-in to receive paper statements. The cost for paper statements is $1.50 per quarter. How Do I Opt-in? On your Personal Dashboard find the HSA Document Delivery Preferences. You can opt-in for paper statements.
Delivery Preferences: On your Personal Dashboard on the ABG Smart Mobile App find the HSA Document Delivery Preferences.
Welcome Guide
Bank Disclosures
Fees Associated with Your HSA Account
Beneficiary Form
Transfer Form
Authorized Signer
Close Account
Contribution Correction
Contribution Correction - Change Year
Contribution & Return of Mistaken Distribution Form
Investment Guide
Investments - Getting Started
Distribution of Excess Contributions
Power of Attorney
FAQs
HSAs are a great way to pay for medical care expenses on a pre-tax basis. HSAs are individually owned accounts that allow you to set aside pre-tax dollars to fund the account. Interest or dividends accumulate tax-free; and payment of qualified medical expenses has no additional tax consequences.
HSAs work hand-in-hand with high deductible health plans (HDHP). Individuals who make contributions to an HSA must be covered by an HDHP. The HDHP must satisfy minimum deductible amounts with certain out-of-pocket maximums. HSA account holders may not be covered by any other insurance plan that is not an HDHP or that covers benefits provided by the HDHP or below the deductible of the HDHP. There are exceptions for "permitted insurance" or "permitted coverage" products.
The benefits of an HSA are:
- 100% tax deductible
- Owned by the individual
- Portable, remaining with a employee regardless of employment
- Roll over from year to year and earn interest tax-free
- Can be invested, supplementing your retirement income
- The IRS Publication 502 outlines what IS and IS NOT an eligible medical expense for an HSA.
- Generally speaking, expenses are considered eligible if the medical care expenses are for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease, and for treatments affecting any part or function of the body.
- The expenses must be primarily to alleviate or prevent a physical or mental defect or illness. Expenses solely for cosmetic reasons generally are not expenses for medical care.
- Side Note: Section 213(d) shows what IS and IS NOT eligible. Please see IRS Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses, for a more detailed list.
Triple Tax Savings:
- Contributions are tax free
- Earnings are tax free
- Withdrawals are tax free when made for eligible medical care expenses
HSAs allow three kinds of tax-favored contributions:
- Employee contributions that are deductible over-the-line (i.e. deductible even by non-itemizers)
- Employer contributions that are excluded from income and employment taxes.
- Salary reduction contributions made through a Section 125 cafeteria plan.
All three forms of contributions are exempt from federal income taxes. Employer and salary reduction contributions (section 125 cafeteria plan) are exempt from FICA and FUTA as well.
Individuals who are covered by an HSA qualified high deductible health plan (HDHP) plan may participate in an HSA.
Eligibility is determined monthly as of the first day of the month. If an individual obtains HDHP coverage mid-month, eligibility for an HSA begins the first of the following month.
Yes. If the couple has family HDHP coverage, it is up to the two individuals to determine how to split the maximum contribution, whether it is divided equally or in some other manner.
IRS Revenue Ruling 2004-45 provides that an individual may participate in both an HSA and an FSA or HRA when the plan designs for the FSA and HRA are as follows:
Limited Purpose Health FSA or HRA
- The FSA and HRA are limited to reimburse only vision, dental or preventive expenses. In addition, the limited purpose HRA may also reimburse specified-disease insurance, indemnity insurance and long-term care insurance.
- Post-deductible Health FSA or HRA
- The FSA and HRA are limited to reimburse expenses only after the minimum required HDHP deductible has been satisfied. Under this arrangement, the Post-deductible Health FSA and HRA are not required to have the same deductible as the HSA. The deductible need only be the minimum required HDHP deductible. For example, an individual who has single HDHP coverage with a $1,500 deductible may set up an FSA with a $1,000 deductible as this is the minimum required in 2004 under the regulations.
- Retiree HRA
- Reimbursement from the HRA begins after an employee retires from employment. Contributions are made to the HRA during the employee's active employment.