What is an HSA?
A Health Savings Account(HSA) is a special, tax-advantaged account meaning money goes in tax free, earns interest tax free and is not taxed when it’s withdrawn to pay for qualified expenses. • You or your employer/plan or both may make contributions to your HSA. • Your HSA dollars earn interest, tax free. • At the end of the year, any money remaining in your HSA rolls over to the next year. • You own your HSA, so you keep the funds even if you change jobs or health plans. • You can withdraw money directly from your HSA using your Aetna HSA Visa debit card or checks to cover qualified expenses. Or, allow the account to grow over time and use it to help pay for future health-related expenses like long-term care insurance premiums, TCC/COBRA premiums and certain retiree expenses.
A Health Savings Account (HSA) is an individual account used to save for future medical costs. Since it is an individual account, much like an IRA, it is totally portable and has no use-it-or-lose-it provisions like a 125 cafeteria plan. In order to open an HSA, the individual must be covered only by a high-deductible health plan. There are limits for contributions, but employees and employers may contribute. Distributions from the HSA must be for eligible medical costs. These topics are covered in the Human Resources Management Guide: An Essential Tool for Managing Day-to-Day HR Responsibilities as well as Prospera.
A Health Savings Account (HSA) is a tax-favored trust or custodial account established exclusively for the purpose of paying for current and future medical expenses. This health savings account is similar to an IRA account with one major difference: you can access the funds at any time to pay for qualified medical expenses as defined under Section 213 of the Internal Revenue Code. The bank or financial institution may issue a checkbook and/or debit card to be used to make withdrawals from your account. Amounts in an HSA may be invested in investments approved for IRAs such as bank accounts, certificates of deposit, stocks, mutual funds and bonds.
A Health Savings Account is a plan that an individual purchases to safeguard against future and current expenses for medical care. A HDHP plan is a High Deductible Health Plan and an HSA is often used in conjunction with that type of health coverage. An HDHP plan is one that doesn’t cover medical expenses for the first dollar unless it is for preventive care. It can be an indemnity, PPO or HMO plan as long as the requirements are met. On December 8th, 2003, President Bush signed the HSA plan into law and Medicare legislation created it. Are You Eligible for an HSA? Requirements for someone to be eligible for an HSA include people that have no health insurance at all, are covered by an HDHP, are not enrolled presently in Medicare, or classified as a dependent on the tax return of someone else. Eligibility does not hinge upon your income and you don’t even have to have an earned income to contribute to this plan. Children cannot create an HSA on their own though a spouse can create their
