Blog
Don’t Let IRMAA Crash Your Retirement Party
“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
Tools to Manage Rising Premiums
“A far more effective approach is defined contribution. An employer offers a flat contribution to each employee . . . When employees pay the entire difference in premiums, they tend to choose the less-costly plan. And employers can set their budgets well in advance, since they’ve fixed their cost per employee.” William G. (Bill) Stuart.. Read more
Uberize My Medical Care, Please
My doctor replied, “Don’t worry about cost. Insurance pays for it.” I responded, “Not exactly. First, I have a deductible that I haven’t satisfied, so I’ll be paying. Second, insurers don’t pay claims. Insurers write checks. My employer and I pay for all services, whether directly through my deducible or next year through premium increases.”.. Read more
Surprise! Billing Legislation Bogs Down
“Most senators represent states in which the leading delivery system is one of the largest and most influential employers. In addition, most states – unlike many congressional districts – have rural hospitals that are affected by federal policies like Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates. Senators have to worry about whether legislation would affect the supply.. Read more
Avoid the HSA-Health FSA Compliance Collison
“An employer best practice is to run the medical plan and the Health FSA concurrently. That way, employees can review changes in cost-sharing in medical plan each year to make the appropriate health FSA election. They usually can’t open their Health FSA mid-year to alter their elections to reflect changes in their projected out-of-pocket costs.”.. Read more
Age 65 in Sight? Avoid Some Pitfalls
“The decision around when to sign up for Social Security benefits is complicated . . . Just be aware that one of the negative consequences of collecting Social Security benefits is that if you’re age 65 or older, you can’t make or receive additional Health Savings Account contributions.” William G. (Bill) Stuart Director of Strategy.. Read more
Summer Update
“[These] tests are a qualified expense . . . only to the extent that the testing is for medical purposes . . . rather than learning whether you’re related to Leif Erickson or want to pull the “family-discount” card when ordering a bottle of Sam Adams.” William G. (Bill) Stuart Director of Strategy and Compliance.. Read more
Sorting through Reform Proposals
“The leading Medicare for All bills in the House and Senate phases out all private coverage within four years. Many debate participants eagerly raised their hands when asked in a debate whether their vision is a program that eliminate private insurers. That’s a big deal, since private insurers cover more than 200 million Americans.” William.. Read more
HSAs for Medicare Enrollees? Maybe
“Retirees who already own an HSA can continue to contribute to their accounts, and those who have never had an opportunity to open an HSA can do so . . This means that 58 million retirees will feel less pressure from the financial vise. And leave them with more funds to receive the high-value care.. Read more
Exploring the ICHRA, Part II
“ICHRAs alter the distribution model from wholesale (employer-sponsored, or group, coverage) to retail (nongroup coverage). It’s far more efficient and less costly for insurers to make a sale to one group of 100 employees than to four groups of 25. Changing the ratio of group to nongroup sales alters not only cost structure, but also.. Read more
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