HSA News for August 9, 2021
HSA news is compiled weekly by Mr. HSA< Roy Ramthun.
News from Washington
Senate Votes to End Debate on $1T Infrastructure Bill
The Senate voted to end debate on a roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill on Sunday night, putting it on a glide path to passing this week. Eighteen GOP senators joined with all Democrats to help advance the legislation. Even though the legislation is all but guaranteed to pass the Senate and head to the House, opponents could still delay passage of the bill until early Tuesday morning.
HSA Industry Best Practices
Help Clients Understand HSA and FSA Differences
Accountants are in a perfect position to advise clients on opting for a Health Savings Account (HSA) or a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) to save on medical costs. People can use both HSAs and FSAs to set aside money for qualified medical expenses, including copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles, along with monthly prescription costs. Here's how HSAs and FSAs compare.
Helping Clients Harness the HSA Investing Surge
Recent HSA market research from Devenir highlights continued steady HSA asset and account growth coupled with notable increases in HSA accountholder investing and investment asset growth. Clients may need to rethink and retool the goals and objectives of their HSA program as the goals and objectives of HSA accountholders continue to evolve.
The HSA Market
High Costs Prompt Small Employers to Move Away From Obamacare
Rising health insurance costs are leading many more small employers to shift away from Affordable Care Act coverage for their workers, according to a new study. Small employers are exploring plans that are exempt from ACA requirements, such as level-funded plans in which employers pay most claims and use insurance plans as backups for large bills, according to the report.
Maximizing Your HSA
Self-Directed Investing: It's for ESAs and HSAs, Too
Self-directed investing as a means to boost savings is not limited to retirement plans. Investors may also self-direct HSAs and Education Savings Accounts. Account holders can open a self-directed version of these accounts with plan administrators that specialize in self-directed retirement plans to leverage investing in alternative assets they know and understand — and that they may already be investing in outside these plans.
Consumer-Driven Health Care
Shop Around: Costs Vary Widely for Same Procedure at Triangle Hospitals
It seems almost everyone has had a surprise medical bill. They can range from the hundreds, to even thousands of dollars. In some cases, they are financially ruinous. Growing attention to the business side of health care has led experts and even some doctors to recommend patients don't pay the first bill they receive, and to ask for itemized bills in detail when hospital billing departments call.
Don’t Want a Vaccine? Be Prepared to Pay More for Insurance.
In 2020, before COVID vaccines, most major private insurers waived patient coinsurance and deductibles for COVID treatment. But many if not most have allowed that policy to lapse. There’s logic behind insurers’ waiver rollback: Why should patients be kept financially unharmed from what is now a preventable hospitalization, thanks to a vaccine that the government paid for and made available free of charge?