leevena

HSA's are as flexible as you can imagine, with the only restraints being what your HSA administrator is capable of doing. Funds can be deposited either by the employer or employee directly. Remember to keep within the funding maximums. There is not IRA rollover allowed. For a good explanation of what you can and can't do, visit one of the HSA sites, such as HSA Finder, or First HSA. They usually have good explanations of what can and can't be done.

If a change occurs, it is because the participant decided to make the change, not the employer. The employee can do whatever they want, within the regulations. HSA administrators will make available low-interest bearing accounts for smaller amounts of funds, and have options to transfer money to higher interest accounts. But again, it is the participant who chooses, just like you would choose bank accounts. Since the employee is making the change, there would not be a blackout notice. Your third question, about participant signature, does not apply because only the participant can make the change.

The participant owns the HSA account, and as such, has full control, including changes of investment. It is the same as your personal checking or savings or investment account. Hope this helps.

As a Yankee fan, I agree with you, with one exception. The best thing for the Yankees would be a non-signing, that is Manny staying with Boston and continuing to spread his disease within the organization. Maybe this year he will have a hotdog and soda during a game.

It is a moot point because the regs say the individual can deposit into their HSA account the lesser of the two, either the deductible or the maximum amount allowed by the IRS. Your 2006 Individual Deductible is $4,000 while the allowable HSA contribution for an indivudal is $2,700. The lesser amount is $2,700. Same would be true for the family. Something else to keep in mind about the deductibles and if you have coverage for more than 2 people, meaning you have coverage for 3 or more. There are two types of HDHP available for sale in the US. The more popular one is based on the old MSA laws that required the FULL FAMILY deductible be satisfied before the HSA funds could be used. I'll use me as an example (EE, Spouse, and two children), and your plan ($4,000 individual and $8,000 family deductible.). If I incur the first claim of the plan year, I must have satisfied the Family Deductible amount ($8,000) before I use my HSA funds. The second approach, often time referred to as a "corridor deductible' eliminates that requirement and allows me to satisfy the Single Deductible only ($4,000) and then I can access the HSA funds. As for your last comment in the original posting "Additionally, the max out-of-pocket for non-network coverage ($16000) appears to violate the out-of-pocket limit for '06 - would this affect which deductible gets used for the contribution calculation?", I know of no requirments. In fact, if you look closely at your OON benefits, there is a good chance that you may very well have much higher out of pocket expenses because of what expenses are recognized as eligible.

Question is moot. The most you can contribute is either the deductible amount or the amount allowed by the IRS, whichever is less. The amount allowed by IRS is 2,700 for individuals and $5,450 for families for the year 2006. Each year the amounts iwll increase.

I am not a pension, or union/labor expert, but I live in San Diego and it's worse than you think. SoCalActuary...do you really expect any politician to take responsibility? This goes back years and involves more than just underfunding. Yes, there were years that the City underfunded on purpose. But the pension plan for the employees is something any of us would just die for. In addition to a nice pension formula, there is DROP program, which essentially allows employees to work and collect a pension payment at the same time. The unions/city negotiated sweetheart deals back and forth. To allow the city to underfund the pension plan, the city allowed union officials to add their union pay into the formula for a city pension. Don't remember the exact figures, but one union official received a pension worht about 100k a year, but never made more than $30k or so a year.

MaryC....An employer can require a health risk assessment as a condition for eligibility to the health plan. I do not remember the name, but there was a case in Virgina (a book store or something like that) that was involved in such a dispute and the courts found in favor of the employer.

Depends on your group size, demographics, and contribution strategy. First thing I would do is determine how your group matches up to the categories. For example, how many singles, how many ee+sp, how many ee+child, and how many families. This will give you a better feel for what makes sense for your group. Also, as for what is average, it is hard to say. I would say 3 to 4 is about maximum.

You can have a variety of categories, but you may be constrained by the carrier. Just ask your carrier/agent/consultant and they can provide you with the options. Under a self-funded, you can do whatever you want, but your question references a carrier, so I am assuming your insured. Keep in mind, changing this may have negative consequences, depending on the demographics of your group. For example, let's use a two category level, single $100 per month, and family $400 per month. If you were to add a middle category, say ee+sp, it might be a $250 rate, and may increase the family. Good luck.

I have experienced something very similar. My home internet server is cox. When I try to send out email messages from other providers, it will not go through. Spoke to Cox and it has to do with them. I am not very technical, but they are my server for emails, and because of security concerns, they will not allow my emails to come from another server. To check this, open Outlook, go to Tools, go to Email accounts, click on View or Change Exisiting email accounts, click on Change. This screen will now give you the Server Information (see right hand side). Make sure the information is correct. Don't worry about changing anything, all you have to do hit "cancel" on any screen. If you have more problems, try calling your Provider.

JCrawford24--thanks for the clarification. You are right, the pop is not covered, and the medical plan is covered. By the way, is this JCrawford from Escondido?

Well maybe I am confused by the original posting. He said that the employer had a premium only cafeteria plan. To me that assumes the employer is offering a medical plan (or plans) with a POP, and no FSA. There may or may not be other benefits, such as DI, Life, etc. So assuming there is a medical plan with the POP, then the employer is subject to HIPPA. While the regs do not directly address the employer, it does through group health plans and plan sponsors. So if the employer offers a medical plan, they are now part of the process.

J2D2, you are partially correct. It applies to covered entities (such as carriers) but also to business associates (such as agents, tpa's, etc.) and employers and other sponsors of group health plans. The overall issue is for all of these categories is that all Protected Health Information that is collected, must be protected. So whether it is an employer or a tpa, that data must be protected.

Probably not, but you need to check because each state is different and I do not know each state's laws. The term "double-dipping" sounds like an excuse being used because the costs may now be higher than anticipated. Usually a single family unit is a lower cost than what you are wanting to do now. I would check with the employer and ask for some type of written HR policy/documentation that forbids this, they may have one on file.

J2D2...even if the employer has a pop only plan, the employer is still collecting data that is subject to privacy. Don't know the answer to my question, but wouldn't that info still be subject to the law?

Your suggested solution may not solve the problem. Is the employer and agent/consultant aware of this problem? It sounds like someone needs to inform the employer and employees and make sure everyone, including the TPA understands the rules. You are correct about the TPA responsibility about the HSA, it is not their responsibility. The individual enrolled is at risk.

A benefit plan is not subject to privacy rules, it is the information collected that is subject. So, if you have collected this information (name, ss#, etc.) than it is subject.

I posted to your earlier question awhile ago, and would like to expand on that response after reading the others comments. If you/employer does decide to pay the medical providers (yourselves) directly, I believe that you could be opening a can of worms. After reading the posts, I do not see any definitive answer. So why bother? You could have employees coming in and complaining, maybe even suing you/employer. If you have employees who are not paying their bills to you, can you look at holding the funds from their pay as opposed to their FSA account? Could you put them on a 'cash only" basis with your providers? And, as I said earlier, why not fire them, they are stealing from you. Just some thoughts.

No. Employer can deduct only for expenses that were paid.

The employer cannot withhold from the pay any dollars to cover a short FSA account. This is a risk that the employer assumes when offering such a benefit. I would suggest you ask your administrator for the documentation, they should have it available.

HI. No, sorry. I got involved with clients like this through a firm that administered these types of plans. I was a carrier rep for the insurance piece. It was through this relationship that I learned much about these types of arrangements. Sorry.

I have never run across this, but it seems to me that the answer would be yes, depending on the expenses and the dates involved. For example, if a participant died during the month, and the benefit plans covered that participant through the end of the month, then those expenses would be eligible. As for expenses incurred after the employee was no longer a participant, I don't know.

Yes, accounts can be "swept" when the balances fall below the needed level. But, check the plan documents to make sure it was written.

I agree with the response, but would caution against disbursing to participants. This can be an administrative nightmare. If the group is small, it is not that big of a deal, but with a large group of employees, and ex-employees who participated, it would become quite a chore to do this correctly. Also, I believe there would then be a tax event for the refunds.