To lower your healthcare costs you enroll in a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). That’s because HDHPs have lower insurance premiums (but higher deductibles).

Since HDHPs have higher deductibles, you can help keep your healthcare costs low by using preventive care and a medical savings account (known as an HSA).

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!).
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.

Read this guide if you want to learn how to use a tax-advantaged health savings account (HSA) to pay for qualified medical expenses, save money, and lower your taxes.

Who should read this

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.

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:

$1,350 minimum annual deductible for self-only health care coverage and $2,700 for family coverage (both unchanged from 2018)
$6,750 maximum for self-only health care coverage (a $100 increase from 2018), and $13,500 for family coverage (a $200 increase from 2018)

Jump to:

Health Plan Terms
Definition of an HSA
HSA vs FSA
HSA vs PPO
Benefits of an HSA account
How to qualify for an HSA account
How to maximize your savings
How to use your HSA funds
How to open an account account
Frequently asked questions

Some 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.

Deductible: This is what you pay upfront for your medical care before your insurer’s coverage kicks in. Once you meet your deductible your insurer covers a large part of the bill. It resets every year.
Premium: This is what you pay every month to the insurance company to have health insurance whether you use it or not.
Copay: Predetermined rate you pay to access healthcare services. With your plan, you could have to pay $20 everytime you go to the doctor’s office or a $10 copay for your monthly medication.
Coinsurance: Once you meet your deductible, your health insurer takes up the bulk of your medical bills. But not all of it. Your co-insurance is the percentage of a medical bill you pay for after you meet your deductible. For instance, with a 25% coinsurance, you would pay 25% of each medical bill, and your health insurance provider will cover the remaining 75%.
Out-of-pocket limit: But you can’t just keep paying for your healthcare, otherwise in a bad health year even with the best plan you would become bankrupt. Your out of pocket limit is the absolute maximum you would need to pay for your healthcare in a year before your health provider covers 100% of the bill.

Here’s how they all fit together:

Every month you pay your premiums to get health insurance. When you visit the doctor, depending on your plan, you pay for the full cost of the service or the copay that is in your policy.

Once your bills add up to your deductible amount, your health insurance starts covering a large portion of your bills. Between 60 and 90%. The remainder that you pay.

There is a further cut off though. You’ll continue to pay your copays until your bills add up to the out-of-pocket maximum.

Once you hit this limit, your insurance provider starts covering all of your medical costs. At least until the year ends.

Now that you know this, let’s dive into health savings accounts.

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.

So what exactly is an HSA?

A Health Savings Account (HSA) is an easy and smart way to pay for qualified medical expenses for you and your dependents. With its tax-advantages, easy access to savings, and future growth potential it’s an effective savings vehicle that provides benefits today and in the future.

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.

HSA vs FSA

Health savings account versus a flexible spending account

FSA stands for flexible spending account. It’s an account your employer makes available to you 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—like copays, medical bills, and vision expenses—while lowering your taxable income.

But an FSA is different than an HSA. Read our HSA vs FSA blog post to find out which account is better for you.

HSA vs PPO

It’s not a choice between an HSA plan and a PPO plan.

An HSA account helps you save for medical expenses. It’s not a form of health insurance.

A PPO, on the other hand, is a form of health insurance. PPO stands for Preferred Provider Organization and refers to the type of network you can access for healthcare.

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.

Our HSA vs PPO blog post helps you decide if a PPO or an HDHP + an HSA is right for you.

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.

1. Save more for your health

Contributions to an HSA are tax deductible. Paying with these funds means you’ll pay less for health expenses.

2. Health safety net

Rollover your HSA funds from year to year. Unlike a flexible spending account, your contributions don’t have to be used within the year.

3. Put your money to work

From day 1, you can establish an investment account using your HSA contributions, with a variety of mutual funds to choose from.

4. The 401(k) of healthcare

After age 65 you can use your HSA money for non-health related expenses and just pay income taxes on your withdrawals. No penalty!

Qualifying for an HSA account

To qualify for an HSA you need to a health insurance plan known as an 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 2019 IRS specifications, qualifying HSA health plans must have minimum deductibles of $1,350 for individuals and $2,700 for families. In addition, qualifying plans must have maximum out-of-pocket amounts of less than $6,750 for individuals and $13,500 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.

Not sure if you qualify? Use our free calculator

Lively created the industry’s first HSA eligibility calculator. It algorithmically calculates hundreds of HSA contributions scenarios to show you exactly how much you can contribute. You can see it live here.

Maximizing your savings (2019 contribution limits)

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 2019 are $3500 for an individual and $7000 for a family. If you are 55 or older your catch-up contributions are limited to an extra $1000 a year.

Read our 2019 HSA Contribution Limits blog post for a complete look at contribution limits and to learn how to maximize your savings.

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.

Q) Can an HSA be used for glasses?

A) Yes, as long as the sunglasses have prescription lenses and were not bought over-the-counter.

Q) Can an HSA be used for dental?

A) 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.

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.

1. Why Lively HSA

2. How to easily open an HSA

Frequently asked questions

Q) Is an HSA also health insurance?

A) No, it isn’t. Health insurance is provided by an insurance company. An HSA is not insurance coverage. For our full answer, read our Is HSA health insurance? blog post.

Q) Is an HSA tax-deductible?

A)Yes. But you need to fill out the right forms. Read our blog post on HSA Tax Forms.

Q) Are HSA contributions pre-tax?

A) Your HSA contributions are pre-tax if made by payroll deduction.

Q) What happens if I use my money to pay for a non-qualified expense?

A) If you are under 65 years old, you will have to pay ordinary income taxes as well as pay a 20% penalty for the amount you’re disbursed out of your HSA account. If you are 65 or older, disabled or die, then you will just pay ordinary incomes taxes (no penalty). If you find yourself in this situation, you can attempt to put money back into your HSA funds before tax time each year.

Q) Does an HSA roll over?

A) Once funds are deposited into the HSA, the account can be used to pay for qualified medical expenses tax-free, even if you no longer have HDHP coverage. The funds in your account roll over automatically each year and remain indefinitely until used. There is no time limit on using the funds.

Get a free HSA

Things like your flexibility in contributing, the ability to keep your unused balance and additional tax benefits make HSAs the wisest choice. So sign up for an HSA – it’s free →

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