Health care - Linkenheimer LLP CPAs & Advisors

Setting Up a Health Savings Account for Your Small Business

Given the escalating cost of employee health care benefits, your business may be interested in providing some of these benefits through an employer-sponsored Health Savings Account (HSA). For eligible individuals, HSAs offer a tax-advantaged way to set aside funds (or have their employers do so) to meet future medical needs. Here are the key tax benefits:

Contributions that participants make to an HSA are deductible, within limits.
Contributions that employers make aren’t taxed to participants.
Earnings on the funds within an HSA aren’t taxed, so the money can accumulate year after year tax free.
HSA distributions to cover qualified medical expenses aren’t taxed.
Employers don’t have to pay payroll taxes on HSA contributions made by employees through payroll deductions.

Who is eligible?

To be eligible for an HSA, an individual must be covered by a “high deductible health plan.” For 2019, a “high deductible health plan” is one with an annual deductible of at least $1,350 for self-only coverage, or at least $2,700 for family coverage. For self-only coverage, the 2019 limit on deductible contributions is $3,500. For family coverage, the 2019 limit on deductible contributions is $7,000. Additionally, annual out-of-pocket expenses required to […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:03:35+00:00October 14th, 2019|business, Health care, hsa|0 Comments

Should Your Health Care Plan be More Future-Focused?

The pace of health care cost inflation has remained moderate over the past year or so, and employers are trying to keep it that way. In response, many businesses aren’t seeking immediate cost-cutting measures or asking employees to shoulder more of the burden. Rather, they’re looking to “future-focused” health care plan features to encourage healthful behaviors.

This was a major finding of the 2018 National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans, an annual study issued by Mercer.

Virtual care

Among the future-focused strategies highlighted by the survey are telemedicine services. Also known as virtual care, the services streamline delivery of health care services by gathering medical data and offering interaction with health care professionals remotely via apps and the phone.

One of the promises of virtual care services is that patients will be more willing to seek medical attention when it can be delivered conveniently, and this inherent efficiency will lead to better health outcomes and reduced costs. But the study found that, though telemedicine services are widely offered, utilization rates remain low.

Specifically, the proportion of large employers (those with at least 500 employees) incorporating telemedicine into their health benefits — 80% — was up substantially […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:04:03+00:00May 6th, 2019|Health care|0 Comments

Do You Know the ABCs of HSAs, FSAs and HRAs?

There continues to be much uncertainty about the Affordable Care Act and how such uncertainty will impact health care costs. So it’s critical to leverage all tax-advantaged ways to fund these expenses, including HSAs, FSAs and HRAs. Here’s how to make sense of this alphabet soup of health care accounts.

HSAs

If you’re covered by a qualified high-deductible health plan (HDHP), you can contribute pretax income to an employer-sponsored Health Savings Account — or make deductible contributions to an HSA you set up yourself — up to $3,450 for self-only coverage and $6,900 for family coverage for 2018. Plus, if you’re age 55 or older, you may contribute an additional $1,000.

You own the account, which can bear interest or be invested, growing tax-deferred similar to an IRA. Withdrawals for qualified medical expenses are tax-free, and you can carry over a balance from year to year.

FSAs

Regardless of […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2018-06-26T17:41:04+00:00June 26th, 2018|affordable care act, Health care, hsa|0 Comments

House Republicans Pass Amended AHCA

On May 4, 2017, members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted along party lines to pass an amended version of the American Health Care Act – proposed legislation to repeal and replace the ACA. The AHCA will now move on to be considered by the Senate. This ACA Compliance Bulletin provides an overview of the proposed legislation and its potential impact going forward.

The AHCA needed 216 votes to pass in the House. Ultimately, it passed on a party-line vote, with 217 Republicans and no Democrats voting in favor of the legislation. The AHCA will only need a simple majority vote in the Senate to pass. If it passes both the House and the Senate, the AHCA would then go to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.

The attached bulletin provides helpful information on how this may affect employers and individuals. We will keep you updated on any new developments and in the meantime, feel free to reach out to your Linkenheimer CPA with any questions.

Download the ACA Compliance Bulletin Now

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:04:56+00:00May 9th, 2017|affordable care act, Health care|0 Comments

More Info on ACA Repeal and Replacement

House Republicans have unveiled a repeal and replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The GOP’s American Health Care Act (ACHA) would eliminate most of the ACA’s taxes, including penalties connected with individual and employer mandates, the net investment income (NII) tax and the Additional Medicare tax. Left in place, although delayed, would be the excise tax on high dollar health plans. Also left in place, would be a number of non-tax provisions related to scope of coverage, benefits and children- including allowing dependents to continue to stay on their parents’ plan until the age of 26, prohibiting health insurers from denying coverage or raising rates to patients based on pre-existing conditions, and forbidding life-time limits on insurance coverage.

The House GOP plan has been rejected by Democrats. Some Republicans have said the plan does not go far enough in repealing all of the ACA. As March moves forward, a vote on the house floor is eventually expected.

To read the impact of the ACA changes, new age-based credits, repeal of NII tax, expanded HSA and other topics, click the link for a detailed read from CCH and Wolters Kluwer. CCH Tax Briefing – ACA Repeal […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2020-09-03T20:04:57+00:00March 14th, 2017|affordable care act, Health care|0 Comments