Employers who are using or planning to use employee benefits that incorporate health savings accounts (HSAs) are concerned that their workers may not see these as advantageous for participants.
Many employees and employers are seeing more of these plans as firms seek to take advantage of their potential for lowering healthcare costs, better utilization and reduced claims, according to Benefits Pro. Companies may wish to improve their efforts to educate employees about HSAs and communicate with them about how such plans can benefit participants, the news source notes.
Employee benefit consultants could potentially help with such efforts, comparing HSAs to other options and breaking down the differences. They can have advantages of flexible spending accounts, such as the ability to adjust contributions on a monthly basis. HSAs also allow unused funds to roll over into the next year and can be taken with the employee when he or she leaves. This means that overestimating the HSAs needs and contributing accordingly does not cause a loss to the employee.
A change to an HSA plan can allow employers to contribute to accounts, given the lower price compared to PPO plans. This may be better than a raise for workers, since wages may be subject to federal and state income taxes and FICA taxes. The same amount of additional money in an HSA, on the other hand, can be effectively more for the worker and less expensive for the employer.
