Devenir HSA Newsletter: July, 2018

  • July 17, 2018

Each month Devenir highlights a selection of articles to keep you abreast of the latest trends and developments in the HSA marketplace.

A summary of the articles included in the July 2018 edition:

  • Devenir Releases Viewpoints White Paper – Best Practices: HSA Investments & Menu Design
  • Law Changes Needed to Fix HSAs, Advocates Tell Congress
  • Are You Making the Most of Your Health Savings Account (HSA)?
  • HealthEquity Introduces New COO
  • Interest Growing in HSAs as Retirement Resources
  • Employers Offer Incentives To Jump Start Health Savings


Devenir Releases Viewpoints White Paper – Best Practices: HSA Investments & Menu Design

Devenir, a thought leader in the HSA investment marketplace, has released a white paper Viewpoint exploring best practices for HSA investments & menu design.

Highlights from the Viewpoint include:

  • Menu Design: Well-designed investment menus typically offer broad asset class coverage that provides for various HSA strategy objectives.
  • Investment Quality: Comparing performance and a holistic approach to evaluating cost.
  • Plan Design: Implementing menu changes in the HSA space & plan features in demand.

The full version of the Viewpoint is available exclusively to Devenir’s clients.



Law Changes Needed to Fix HSAs, Advocates Tell Congress

The House Ways and Means health subcommittee is examining how Congress could expand access to health savings accounts (HSAs) and remove restrictions on how these accounts are used.

Approximately 30 percent of employees are now enrolled in a consumer-directed health plan (CDHP) intended to promote health care savings and cost-conscious spending. The most common CDHP design is a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) paired with an HSA, “offered by 80 percent of employers with any type of consumer-driven health plan,” HSA consultant Roy Ramthun testified before the subcommittee.

Article link no longer available.

Are You Making the Most of Your Health Savings Account (HSA)?

Fidelity’s new “Building Healthy Futures” report, an analysis of how people are saving for health care, shows one-in-four employees with access to an HSA are now using one of these triple tax-advantaged savings accounts. When employers only offer an HSA-eligible health plan, nearly half of employees are electing to add this savings benefit. However, Fidelity’s research also finds that despite growth in HSA openings, many individuals are not making the most of the benefits these accounts can offer, missing out on the opportunity to grow health care savings for the long term.



HealthEquity Introduces New COO

HealthEquity, one of the nation’s largest independent health savings accounts (HSA) custodians, announced the appointment of Ted Bloomberg to its executive team as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), a new position within HealthEquity created in response to its continued rapid growth.



Interest Growing in HSAs as Retirement Resources

Health savings accounts are hot.

Financial advisors, plan consultants and the news media are recommending the HSAs as a potentially important element in planning for retirement healthcare costs. Plan sponsors also appear to be getting on the bandwagon. Consider this eye-opening stat: The Plan Sponsor Council of America’s 2017 report, “Health Savings Accounts and Retirement Plans,” found that 75 percent of companies “regard the HSA as part of their retirement benefits.”



Employers Offer Incentives To Jump Start Health Savings

While HSAs continue to be an important and popular benefit to help employees manage their health care costs, research shows that employees require more education about how HSAs work. In fact, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s soon to be released 2018 Workplace Benefits Report found that 76% of employees claim they understand how HSAs work, but only 12% could correctly identify the attributes of an HSA.