HSA Meeting: Questions and Answers
To date…8/10/08

Q. Does the Health Savings Account cover dental?
A. You may use the money that you have accumulated in your HSA towards unreimbursed dental expenses. You may also set up a separate Flex Spending Account (FSA) that is just for dental and vision. It is illegal to have both a FSA and HAS for medical.

Q. What minimum number of staff are required to keep the HSA running?
A. We have not established a minimum number of participants to continue to offer the HSA plan.

Q. What would happen if the employee who has the HSA were to die while they still had funds in the HSA account?
A. The money that was in the HSA account would be included in the employee’s estate.

Q. Would the employee using the HSA have to pay full price for prescriptions?
A. The employee would be advised to try to find generic brands of the current prescriptions that they have. Employees would be required to pay 100% of their prescriptions until the out-of-pocket maximum is met, but employees would be able to take advantage of the PHP discounts when purchasing their meds.

Q. Are the banks taking the money that you have in your HSA account and then making more money for you with it?
A. The employee’s money could be put into a mutual fund or some other interest gaining fund if the employee so desires. In this way, the money could potentially make more money through the interest or investment gain.

Q. If many employees go to the HSA plan, will the regular plan rates rise?
A. We don’t really know but it’s important to remember that our PHP premium is based partially on ACPL employees claim experience – but also the general community claim experience as well.

Q. Will PHP only pay for over the counter drugs in the HSA?
A. The employee pays for all the drugs until the out-of-pocket maximum is met.. From there on out, the drugs are paid for completely by PHP.

Q. Is the health savings account FDIC insured?
A. This is currently being researched. More later.

Q. What does PHP gain, what is their incentive?
A. PHP would not be doing this if they were expecting to lose money. They offer this as an alternative product to sell to the healthcare market in the hopes of attracting more customers. .

Q Will employees still be eligible for Wellness Credits?

A Yes. The fall health screenings are in the planning stages right now.

Q. What is Cobra?
A. COBRA is the federal law that guarantees employees the right to continue their benefits after they terminate a job. Under COBRA, employees pay the full cost of the premium (employee and library costs) plus a 2% administrative fee.

Q. How is the amount the employer contributes determined?
A. I think most employers try to set the amount at a level that will attract employees into the plan – but still allow for substantial overall health plan cost savings for the employer. So far we’ve been looking at it as how much would we need to pay through the monthly payment to have the new plan contain about the same total financial cost “exposure” for the employee as compared to the cost exposure contained in the traditional plan.. We don’t know if that will be our method in the end, but that’s how we’ve been looking at it so far.

Q. Will Allen County Public Library get rid of the traditional plan eventually?
A. As far as we can see into the future, we don’t expect to stop offering the traditional healthcare plan. We are planning to offer choices.

Q If we purchase meds out of network, do the $$ go toward my out-of-pocket maximum for IN network or for Out of network?
A. Meds purchased out-of-network are applied to the out-of-network deductible. However, PHP has told us that if you are traveling and go to a major chain pharmacy such as Walgreens or CVS, you will pay the co-pay the same as if you were at home.

Q Can you enroll in the new plan if you’re covered by your spouses insurance?
A. No. The HSA can only be used with a high deductible plan. The federal law set the HSA up with very strict rules about this.