Blog
A Menu of Options to Help People Cope with the Pandemic
“For a family with $5,000 of out-of-pocket expenses and a 25% to 34% marginal tax rate, the savings of between $1,250 and $1,700 may equal a mortgage payment of four or more car payments. That’s welcome money in these difficult times.” William G. (Bill) Stuart Director of Strategy and Compliance March 23, 2020 The COVID-19.. Read more
Looking Back a Decade on Two Landmark Healthcare Events
“Too many [employers], though, take a surprisingly cavalier attitude toward their medical spend. In many cases, the cost of medical care is one of a company’s top three or four expenses. But whereas managers scrutinize the purchase of new equipment and raw materials, the cost to rent or own and upgrade their facilities, and employee.. Read more
Health Savings Accounts and Chronic Conditions
“Employers with a particular high-cost claims category among its employee population – perhaps behavioral health, substance abuse, lower-back ailments or repetitive-motion injuries – could work with their insurer to remove cost barriers for treatment without disqualifying employees from making or receiving Health Savings Account contributions.” William G. (Bill) Stuart Director of Strategy and Compliance March.. Read more
Sorting through Tax Forms
“All contributions made through your employer’s Cafeteria Plan are labeled employer contributions. This figure includes not only contributions that your employer agreed to make when you enrolled, but also your pre-tax payroll deductions. Don’t worry about the aggregation. It’s all your money. Health Savings Account contributions vest immediately, regardless of the source.” William G. (Bill) Stuart.. Read more
Democrats Debate Medicare-Based Reform Proposals
“The growing premium differential between Medicare and private insurance would prompt more people eligible for the Public Option or Medicare Buy-in to enroll in Medicare. That would off another round of disproportionately higher private premiums, which would exacerbate the problem. In the insurance industry, we call this phenomenon the death spiral.” William G. (Bill) Stuart.. Read more
Why the Cadillac Tax Had to Go
“It defies logic to argue that employee salary deferrals – compensation that employees choose to take in the form of tax-advantaged funds to reimburse their personal financial responsibility for care – fall within any logical definition of premium.” William G. (Bill) Stuart Director of Strategy and Compliance January 23, 2020 The budget deal to which.. Read more
Strengthening Medicare and Seniors’ Finances
That’s hardly a formula for preserving Medicare, is it? Someone else was willing to assume full financial responsibility for your claims, but Social Security rules forced you to enroll in Medicare and forego some of the financial benefits of your group coverage. And then faced with the loss of financial benefits of a Health Savings.. Read more
My Christmas Wish List
“This rule hurts people who participate in a Health Savings Account program. They’re retroactively disqualified from six months of eligibility to make and receive contributions. . . . If they’re unaware, they must either withdraw funds subsequently or remain blissfully unaware and face taxes, penalties, and anxiety if they learn of this rule during an.. Read more
Capital Update
“My favorite lobbyist is fond of comparing legislation to a train. With any legislative effort, he wonders: Where is the train going? How powerful is the engine? How many cars can it pull? In other words, it’s often not the merits of a piece of legislation, but rather how to attach it to a relevant.. Read more
Don’t Let IRMAA Crash Your Retirement Party
November 14th, 2019“To quote those commercials for 70s rock CDs, grout cleaners, and chia pets, ‘But wait, there’s more.’ . . . Health Savings Accounts appear, by my math, to be septuple-tax-advantaged account – with four distinct advantages over traditional 401(k) plans and IRAs.” William G. (Bill) Stuart Director of Strategy and Compliance November 14, 2019 You’ve.. Read more
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