Employee Benefits Blog

Cultivating a truly competitive employee benefits package can sometimes seem like an insurmountable task. Most employers work in earnest to put in place the very best benefits they can afford, without compromising coverage. This is especially true when it comes to the medical portion of their program.

Telemedicine, rapidly growing in popularity, is an excellent way to supplement a medical plan without driving up costs - but it does have some drawbacks as well. So what exactly is telemedicine, and is it a good fit for your company? 

An increasing number of married employees are obtaining health insurance coverage through their own plans rather than their working spouses’.

Regardless of whether this reflects sound economic strategy (depending on employer contributions), personal preference, or is the result of spousal carve-outs instituted by employers as a cost-mitigation strategy, having two working spouses each go on their own individual high-deductible health plans (HDHP) increases the chance of overfunding health savings accounts (HSAs). This is not unlike the situation some married couples find themselves in when they accidentally overfund their Dependent Care FSA by each accidentally maxing out their contributions through their individual employers.

HSA Contribution Limits for 2019

Unlike last year when the IRS adjusted HSA contribution limits multiple times during the year, the 2019 HSA contribution limits are set and fairly straightforward. They are as follows:

• $3,500 self-only contribution limit
• $7,000 family contribution limit
• $1,000 catch-up limit for people age 55 and over

These represent a $50 increase for individuals and a $100 increase for families compared to last year’s numbers. The catch-up limit has remained unchanged. (All of these figures include both employer and employee contributions.)

When just one person is contributing to an HSA, these limits are easy to apply. A bank representative can explain the account to them and help them make contributions that don't exceed the applicable limit.

In situations that involve two spouses, however, staying within the contribution limit becomes a little more involved. 

Recent news that the rising cost of healthcare in America may actually be slowing is being met with resounding elation by those looking for ways to save money on their medical insurance. For those with high deductible health plans (HDHPs) and other forms of consumer-driven healthcare, this comes as especially welcome news.

If sustained, this tempering of rising medical care costs will hopefully begin to curb an alarming trend, that being dangerous cost-avoidance practices by some covered individuals, which sometimes includes such dangerous practices as skipping medications and postponing necessary medical procedures. (Many have also skipped out on preventative care, despite the fact that most all of it is covered at 100%.)  While in the short-term such actions will indeed bring down healthcare expenses, they are likely to trigger larger problems later on, which cost far more money.

There are much safer and more effective ways to curb healthcare expenses, but it takes a bit of effort and education to capitalize on them. Here are just a few we’ve found. Please feel free to use these money saving strategies with your workforce — and better yet — try them out yourself.

For many who work in human resources and employee benefits, open enrollment can be a stressful time of year. Focused on meeting tight deadlines and pleasing multiple stakeholders, many HR professionals often repeat sins of the past and fail to make annual, incremental improvements in their open enrollment processes.

Optimizing your open enrollment is critical to ensuring its ongoing success. After all, over time you learn more about how best to communicate with your organization, particularly as the employee benefits space evolves i.e. new benefit products and services, and new technologies.

In the spirit of continuous improvement, whether you're working off of a well-established checklist or with your employee benefits broker, be sure to avoid these common pitfalls during your next open enrollment.  

1. Ending Open Enrollment Outside of Normal Office Hours

Procrastinating employees will inevitably have last minute questions and may experience technology troubles. Make sure your deadline for open enrollment falls during the workweek and during normal office hours when your HR staff is still on duty to help them through those final steps in the process.

2. Ignoring Other Household Decision Makers

Often times your employee is not the only one weighing-in on benefit decisions. Make sure the communication materials and media channels you're using reach other heads of household and key decision makers such as spouses. Consider extending invitations to open enrollment meetings to the entire family.

Around 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every single day, which means 10,000 more people become eligible for Medicare. If your human resources department hasn’t yet been inundated with questions from your older employees about Medicare eligibility, they will at some point — and soon.

After all, many boomers are choosing to work a bit longer than the standard retirement age of 65 for a variety of reasons — some are still physically able to work, so they’re taking advantage of it, others are trying to save more for retirement (because so many people haven’t saved nearly enough, if anything), and others just aren’t ready to give up their day jobs yet.

It’s possible that some of your employees have deferred Medicare eligibility because they haven’t actually retired yet, but some people who are still employed find it’s cheaper to take the leap into Medicare (and all its parts) than to stay on their employer-sponsored health plan (though many choose to enroll in both). That said, it’s not quite that cut and dry when it comes to those enrolled in health savings accounts (HSAs) through high deductible health plans (HDHPs).

Here are the things that need to be considered when an employee or covered spouse turns 65:

Medicare Part A

With the exception of those employees actively contributing to an HSA, there’s really no reason for them not to enroll in Part A, which covers hospitalization, home health care, care at nursing homes, and hospice care. As long as employees have worked and paid Medicare taxes during a minimum 10-year period of time (the period of time deemed long enough by the government), Medicare Part A comes premium-free (however, it does come with coinsurance). The situation gets a bit more complicated when employees who are ready to enroll in Medicare are also contributing to an HSA.

With the rising cost of health insurance, many consumers are opting for high deductible health plans (HDHPs) to keep their medical premiums affordable, especially when they’re relatively young, comparatively healthy, and don't spend much of their budget each year visiting a doctor. However, many people enrolled in qualified HDHPs are disappointed to learn they can no longer, by law, participate in a traditional flexible spending account (FSA). 

The nature of how these plans are designed leaves some wondering how they’ll cover all the expenses incurred prior to reaching their deductible, which has led to the rise of health savings accounts (HSAs) and limited purpose flexible spending accounts (LPFSAs).

Only those enrolled in qualified HDHPs are eligible to open an HSA and reap the tax benefits, but many are unaware that they’re also eligible to open a limited purpose FSA (providing their employer offers one), which frees up the money in their HSA for future use — even retirement. 

What Is a Limited Purpose FSA?

HSAs are usually a major selling point of HDHPs. They allow participants to set aside a portion of their income from each paycheck in order to pay for qualifying healthcare expenses. Limited purpose FSAs are like HSAs in that participants can contribute a specific amount from each paycheck. LPFSAs are like traditional FSAs in that they make funds available immediately, rather than forcing you to wait until enough money has accumulated to access the money you need for necessary vision and dental care (whereas HSAs require funds to be in the account before reimbursement can occur).  

Let’s face it, healthcare has become a major expense for everyone in this country. To help offset a portion of this costly burden for employees, employers typically offer two very popular tax-advantaged savings accounts: HRAs and HSAs. But what’s the difference between these two healthcare savings plans, what are the legal distinctions, and which is better for your employees and your company?

Making an informed decision about these tax-advantaged reimbursement plans can help you maximize the benefits for both your employees and your company.

(For a side-by-side comparison of these plans, including comparisons to FSAs and QSEHRA tax-advantaged accounts, click here to download our four page guide.)

Defining HRAs and HSAs

Not to be confused with a flexible spending account (FSA), an HSA, or health savings account, is a savings account specifically linked to a qualified high deductible health plan (HDHP); it’s meant to help offset the higher out-of-pocket expenses that potentially come with plans of this design.

Health savings accounts (HSAs) have grown in popularity in recent years for a variety of reasons. Many employers are looking to cut employee benefit costs due to the rapid and seemingly never ending increasing cost of healthcare, while others are looking to avoid the ACA’s hefty Cadillac Tax (an ACA-related 40% tax, set to go into effect in 2020 which impacts “rich” health coverage that exceeds predetermined threshold amounts).

High deductible health plans (HDHPs) allow both employers and employees to save on premiums and are a simple way to accomplish both goals. They also fit with a growing trend towards consumer-driven healthcare. Most importantly, as HDHPs become more prevalent, so do HSAs as they go hand-in-hand.

Enrollment in HSAs has exploded in the past decade, growing from 3.2 million people in 2006 to 20.2 million in 2016 and once the data is in for 2017, this number is expected to be even higher. Even with all their pros and cons, it appears that HDHPs with HSAs are here to stay as more and more companies make the transition to less expensive health insurance options.

HSAs may be a good deal for businesses and workers alike, but it’s important for employers to be informed of HSA regulations so they can ensure the HSA they offer is compliant with federal law. Here are four common mistakes employers make when offering an HSA.

4 Common HSA Mistakes to Avoid

Mistake #1: Setting Up An HSA with a Non-Qualified High Deductible Health Plan

Employers are only allowed to offer an HSA when it’s set up in conjunction with a qualified high deductible health plan. Note that this doesn’t simply mean a health insurance plan with a high deductible — many comprehensive plans are now being built to have higher deductibles so they can boast lower premiums, which is another common money saving strategy among employers these days. Rather, the term “High Deductible Health Plan” is specific to health insurance plans that not only have high deductibles, but also conform to other established federal guidelines.