HSA Guide

This material applies to individuals & families that want to lower their healthcare costs and be financially effective with their high-deductible health plan (HDHP).

It’s important that you learn about HSAs if you have (or plan to enroll in) an HDHP. It will help you save big.

1. Most HDHPs cover preventive care (like a physical exam) with zero out-of-pocket. So keeping up with preventive care is a smart way to avoid costly illnesses (and to feel good!).
2. You can continue to lower your healthcare costs by using a health savings account. In fact, a high-deductible health plan works best in combination with a health savings account.

Who should read this

If you’re in the process of enrolling in an HDHP then choose a plan that is compatible with an HSA. The IRS defines an HDHP as having:

• $1,400 minimum annual deductible for self-only health care coverage and $2,800 for family coverage (a slight increase from 2019)
• $6,900 for self-only health care coverage (a $150 increase from 2019), and $13,800 for family coverage (a $300 increase from 2019)

All of these numbers are the eligibility criteria for an HSA eligible healthplan in 2020.

Key Health Plan Terms

Before we move forward, let’s define a few terms you’ll come across when shopping for health plans. If you know these feel free to skip to the next section.

What is an HSA?

Health care costs for Americans have been skyrocketing. And an HSA can help you (and your family) plan for and beat the rising costs.

You can open an HSA easily and in only a few minutes with Lively. Then you can contribute to your account (which is FDIC insured) with pre-tax dollars. As a result, you’ll lower your income tax (which is a significant tax benefit).

Using your HSA funds is also easy. We cover it below in the ‘How to use your HSA funds’ section.

Qualifying for an HSA account

To qualify for an HSA you need to a health insurance plan known as a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). High-deductible health plans have lower premiums and higher deductibles. And to qualify for an HSA, the HDHP must satisfy certain IRS requirements with respect to deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses.

Based on 2020 IRS specifications, qualifying HSA health plans must have minimum deductibles of $1,400 for individuals and $2,800 for families. In addition, qualifying plans must have maximum out-of-pocket amounts of less than $6,900 for individuals and $13,800 for families.

With an HDHP, you generally pay more up front for medical expenses before the plan begins to pay for covered services. In return, you will generally pay less in premiums than in other medical plan options. Otherwise, an HSA-eligible health plan is much like a traditional health care plan.

For more information on if you qualify for an HSA check out IRS publication 969.

How to use your HSA funds

You can use your HSA funds as you would the funds in your bank account: with your debit card. After you enroll in an HSA, Lively sends you a branded debit card.

The catch is you can only use HSA money for qualified medical expenses. These costs generally include payment to doctors or dentists, over-the-counter prescription drugs, imaging such as MRIs, medical services (such as home care) and medical equipment or supplies.

With a Lively HSA, you can also reimburse yourself for any qualified medical expenses that your insurance didn’t cover and you had to pay out-of-pocket.

Lively created a free-to-use search engine to find out if what you want to buy is a qualified medical expense. You can also visit HSA Store to find and purchase thousands of eligible expenses.

1. Can an HSA be used for glasses? Yes, as long as the sunglasses have prescription lenses and were not bought over-the-counter.
2. Can an HSA be used for dental? You can include in medical expenses the amounts you pay for the prevention and alleviation of dental disease. Preventive treatment includes the services of a dental hygienist or dentist for such procedures as teeth cleaning, the application of sealants, and fluoride treatments to prevent tooth decay. Treatment to alleviate dental disease include services of a dentist for procedures such as X-rays, fillings, braces, extractions, dentures, and other dental ailments.

Benefits of an HSA account

An HSA is like a supercharged IRA. It’s approved by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). And it’s great for your federal tax and state tax returns.

That’s because your HSA contributions are tax-deductible from your income tax, meaning you can lower your tax burden.

An HSA offers triple tax savings:

• Pre-tax or tax-deductible contributions
• Tax-free interest and investment earnings
• Tax-free distributions, when used for qualified medical expenses

HSAs are also portable. This means that you always keep your HSA. This is true even if you change employers or stop working. Unlike a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), there is no “use-it-or-lose-it” rule with HSAs. If you don’t use funds, they remain in your HSA each year. They also continue to earn tax-free interest.

So take control of your healthcare costs and plan for your future by opening an HSA.

Maximizing your savings

To take full advantage of tax savings and to build a reserve for the future, it is suggested that you make the maximum contribution as set by the IRS. So there are HSA contribution limits? Yes.

For those of you who want the quick answer: the HSA contribution limits for 2020 are $3,550 for an individual and $7,100 for a family. If you are 55 or older your catch-up contributions are limited to an extra $1,000 a year.

Read our 2020 HSA Contribution Limits blog post for a complete look at contribution limits and to learn how to maximize your savings.

HSA vs FSA

While the two accounts are incredibly similar in terms of usage, they are regulated differently, depending on the type of account you have.

A Flex Spending Account or Flexible Spending Arrangement (FSA) is an account that you can contribute to so you can pay for medical expenses with pre-tax dollars. With both an HSA and an FSA, you can pay for out-of-pocket medical expenses and qualified medical expenses while lowering your taxable income. This type of account is often offered by employers as a benefit to their employees.

The biggest difference between an FSA and an HSA is that once you contribute money to your FSA, you need to use that money by the end of the year or else you forfeit it back to your employer who can then opt to use it to offset the costs of administering benefits or split it among employee contributions.

According to the IRS, an employer that sponsors an FSA can now allow its employees to do one of two options:

• Rollover up to $500 of their FSA to the next year

OR

• Allow employees a grace period of up to two and a half months to use their funds

While this modification is helpful, this means that the money that you contribute to your FSA doesn’t stay yours.

HSA vs PPO

PPO plans are traditional plans that tend to have lower deductibles and higher premiums. Other healthcare plans like a health maintenance organization (HMO) have lower premiums and low or almost no deductibles, but you have a smaller choice of providers.

The question isn’t whether an HSA is better than a PPO. The question is do you want a high-deductible plan, or do you want a low deductible plan? And if you opt for a high-deductible plan then you’ll be financially efficient if you also enroll in a health savings account.

How to open an account

Open and FDIC-insured health savings account in minutes with Lively. Lively brings HSA into the modern era so it’s easier for you to keep healthcare costs low today and plan for the costs of tomorrow.

• Why Lively HSA
• How to easily open an HSA