HSA News for June 29, 2020
HSA news is compiled weekly by Mr. HSA, Roy Ramthun.
News from Washington
Treasury May Consider Delaying Tax Day to September 15, Mnuchin Says
This tax season may look more like a tax year, as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin weighs delaying the July 15 deadline once again. He said he was considering another delay to September 15. Treasury has already pushed the April 15 deadline for federal income tax returns to July 15, giving individuals and professionals some relief as they grappled with coronavirus and stay-at-home orders in the spring.
Trump Administration Calls for Supreme Court to Strike Down Obamacare
The Trump administration argued in a legal brief filed to the Supreme Court that the entire Affordable Care Act should be invalidated. The legal filing, while expected, makes official the Trump administration's position in the Supreme Court against the health law months ahead of the election, at a time when Democrats are hammering President Trump over his position on health care.
U.S. Hospitals Lose Legal Challenge to Trump Price Transparency Rule
A federal judge dismissed a challenge by hospital groups to a federal rule requiring them to disclose prices they quietly negotiate with insurers, in a victory for White House efforts to make healthcare pricing more transparent to patients.
HSA Compliance Corner
Why Does Direct-Primary Care Disqualify HSA Contributions?
The Internal Revenue Service issued proposed guidance earlier this month clarifying the interaction between direct-primary care arrangements and HSAs. It's a partial victory, but falls short of what patients need to spend their healthcare dollars most effectively.
"Conditional" Employer HSA Contributions? Nope!
Employers can offer certain programs that limit their contributions to employees or target certain workers or classes of workers with greater amounts. But employers don't have that flexibility when it comes to funding employees' HSAs.
HSA Industry Best Practices
Is HSA Investing a Sprint or a Marathon?
The marketplace for investing HSA assets continues to evolve slowly, and the HSA investment experience tends to match the short-term nature of the objectives most employers have in adopting HSA-capable coverage. However, continuation of these past practices severely underutilizes the HSA’s asset accumulation potential.
The HSA Market
HSAs: The Right Choice for Millennials
Pairing an HSA with an HDHP is an extremely powerful combination that provides employees of all ages with greater flexibility and control over their healthcare spending, along with substantial tax advantages and other benefits. The greatest benefit for the millennial generation is an HSA’s “triple tax savings,” combined with how time can amplify those savings to grow an individual’s account.
How the CARES Act Could Shape Benefits Over the Coming Year
Coronavirus and the subsequent institutional reactions have had and will have a profound impact on the way businesses manage their employees. HR and benefits professionals need to look to a short and long term significantly influenced by COVID-19. The CARES Act added flexibility for the consumer and stretches the applications of insurance dollars through HSAs, FSAs, and HRAs.
HSAs & Retirement
HSA—The Ultimate Retirement Savings Tool
HSAs have become more popular as employers and workers begin to view them as a savings account, and not just a healthcare spending account. We expect this trend to continue as assets build in these accounts and knowledge of the superpower extends beyond just the savviest of participants. Participants will no doubt begin to question how these accounts fit in with traditional retirement savings vehicles.
Healthcare Costs Could Derail Retirement Plans
People work for decades with a hopeful eye toward retirement. But while many try to envision their retirement years as a blissful time of fun and relaxation, no one has a crystal ball showing exactly what all the expenses will look like. This is especially true of health care. How do you plan for that great unknown – health care costs in retirement? Here are some tips.
Maximizing Your HSA
Using HSAs to Cope With Health and Financial Crises
As the COVID-19 global pandemic moves into its next phase, the financial implications of the crisis are becoming more apparent and more pressing. Your employees may be experiencing immediate challenges. Here are some ways your employees can use an HSA to address immediate concerns
How to Maximize the July 15th Tax Filing Deadline
For tax year 2019, you could fund your HSA with $3,500 if you had a single healthcare plan and $7,000 if you had a family plan. For taxpayers age 55 and older, you could add an additional $1,000 as a catch-up contribution. This has also been extended to the July 15 deadline. If you already filed, you will need to amend your return.
4 Ways to Give Yourself a Tax Break
Contributions to an HSA are tax-deductible, and the distributions from such an account are not typically taxable when they’re used to cover qualified medical expenses. Not only are an HSA account’s eligible contributions tax-deductible and its distributions tax-free, but the earnings on the account also are not taxed. That’s three ways you save on taxes.
Consumer-Driven Health Care
It's Time to Ban Balance Billing
Negotiations to end surprise billing have been at an impasse for nearly a year. Discussions between the White House and congressional leaders over another coronavirus bill offer an opportunity to finally end this practice that defrauds millions of patients every year.
High-Deductible Health Plans Disproportionately Hurting Black Cancer Survivors
A new study finds that Black cancer survivors on high-deductible health plans face more cost-related barriers to care than white cancer survivors on the same plan, including needing to skip a medication or delay a refill to save money, and not being able to see a specialist.
The Perverse Ascent of Telemedicine
It’s been a long time coming: While some form of telemedicine has been offered for over 20 years, as recently as 2018 only 2.5% of patients reported having telemedicine appointments. The rise of telemedicine also illustrates an unfortunate feature of U.S. health care—the pernicious effect of third-party payment in frustrating the promise of convenient and low-cost innovations.