Insurance Benefits Review

HSA’s -Health Savings Accounts – An HSA works hand-in-hand with a high deductible policy, allowing you to put money, up to your deductible amount, in a special tax-deferred account.  The funds in this account can be used for all your deductible expenses and certain other healthcare expenses that are not covered by your policy at all.  For example, you can use your HSA to pay for prescription or over-the-counter medications, even if your health insurance plan does not have a prescription benefit.  It can also be used for your dental or vision care.

FSA – Flexible Spending Accounts – Is one of the numbers of tax-advantaged financial accounts that can be set up through an employer group health plan.  FSA’s allows an employee to set aside a portion of his or her earnings to pay for qualified expenses as established in the cafeteria plan most commonly for medical expenses but often for a dependent care of other expenses.  Money deducted from an employee’s pay into an FSA is not subject to payroll taxes, resulting in a substantial payroll tax savings.

HRA’S – Health Reimbursement Arrangements are Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sanctioned programs that allow an employer to reimburse medical expenses paid by participating employees, thus yielding “tax advantages to offset health care costs.”