Eagan, MN (PRWEB) November 15, 2013
Employers of all sizes are turning to consumer-directed health plans or account-based plans (high-deductible health plans that are paired with a spending account) as a way to address rising health care costs, while continuing to provide reliable and effective health benefits for their employees. But what happens when employers offer one of these tax-advantaged accounts and enrollment flounders? In the end, no one realizes the benefit of the spending account if employees aren’t actively engaged.
As one of the largest health savings account (HSA) administrators in the country, SelectAccount has been administering spending accounts—including the HSA, flexible spending account (FSA), health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) and VEBA account—for more than 20 years. SelectAccount offers the following tips to help employers boost engagement in their company-sponsored HSA.
1. Conduct face-to-face meetings (mandatory if possible) to give employees a chance to ask questions and to hear about the account firsthand. Offer meetings outside of work hours and encourage spouses to attend.
2. Work with the health plan to educate employees about lower cost-of-care options, such as Minute Clinic and Online Care Anywhere.
3. Illustrate for employees the tax advantages of the account⎯even if they aren’t savers. For instance, most employees don’t realize there is a 30 percent tax savings when they run their money through the HSA to pay for expenses on an as-needed basis.
4. Use all available communication tools that your account administrator provides to educate employees about the account. Include print, video, demos and online calculators, if available.
5. Conduct post-enrollment meetings (a few months after the account is in effect) to answer questions about how the account works and to address specific claim situations that employees may have encountered.
6. Consider employer funding of the account or a premium offset for those that enroll. Convert these paycheck changes to the account so the paycheck remains take-home neutral.
7. Encourage employees to use online banking to get immediate access to their HSA funds and to better manage their long-term savings.
8. Educate employees about steps they can take to be smart consumers of health care, such as using preventive care services, asking for generics when getting prescriptions filled, telling your doctor that you have a HDHP before making decisions about care, and using available cost calculators from your account administrator or health plan.
To learn more about HSAs, how the account works and how to save smarter for future health care needs, visit selectaccount.com/products/hsa/how-it-works/.
---
About SelectAccount
MII Life, Inc., d.b.a., SelectAccount, is a Minnesota-licensed insurance company regulated by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, and approved by the U.S. Department of Treasury as a non-bank HSA Trustee. An affiliated company of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, SelectAccount is owned by Aware Integrated, Inc. For more than 20 years, SelectAccount has offered innovative and industry-leading spending accounts. Today, SelectAccount provides health care saving solutions in all 50 states, including service to members through 14 regional health plans and nearly 7,000 employers. SelectAccount now has approximately $446 million in consumer medical savings assets under management, making it among the largest account administrators in the country. Visit selectaccount.com to learn more.