Allen County Public Library!

Allen County Public Library!
"Great Hall"

Thursday, September 18, 2008

More HSA Q & A's...Sept 18, 2008

Here are more Health Savings Account Q & A's. More coming very soon!

Q1 Will we be able to have direct deposit of our employee contribution to the HSA via payroll deduction?

A1 Yes.


Q2 Let me get this right, you’ve said we’ll probably have a nice convenient HSA debit card to just “swipe” at the doctor’s office to pay. But you’ve also suggested we should try to not pay when the doctor’s office asks for payment at the time of service. That we should wait and let PHP advise us of what we need to pay. Which is it?

A2 My apologies for not being clear on this point in some of the early meetings. When paying for something that is not a covered service (something that is not paid by the plan even after you’ve met the Out of Pocket Maximum), it is fine to just use the debit card – and save the receipts in case you ever have to prove you used your HSA on only health related expenses.

But if the payment is for something that PHP has negotiated a price discount for (virtually all physician office and hospital services, for example), we suggest asking the provider of the service if you can wait to pay until after the claim has been submitted by the provider to PHP – and PHP has processed the claim. PHP will inform both you and the provider how much you are to pay the provider (factoring in the negotiated discount as well as if you have reached the Out of Pocket maximum). Even if the provider insists upon you paying the bill at the time the service is provided, you should send a receipt to PHP so they can accurately keep track of how much you’re paying toward your Out of Pocket Maximum.

If you pay for a service that is a “covered” benefit but without a PHP discount, the record of the expense must still get to PHP by either the provider submitting, or you providing documentation to PHP so the records can be maintained.

I hope this is now more clear.


Q3 When will the HSA “work sheets” you described to help us analyze this be available?

A3 By September 30at the latest.



Q4 Would we receive both a PHP card and a HSA card?


A4 Yes



Q5 Would we get a monthly statement from the bank? On-line?


A5 Yes. It also looks like you will be able to get a checkbook and debit card – or just one or the other if you prefer.






Q6 If we worked out a payment plan with a provider, could the monthly payment be automatically subtracted from my account – and placed in provider’s account?

A6 That would be up to the individual bank. But we know most banks already make regular withdrawals out of account holder’s checking accounts and electronically transfer the funds to the account of the company to which the account holder has directed the money to go to.




Q7 Would our HSA money be protected by FDIC?

A7 Yes. It is a bank account like any other bank checking or savings account. However, if you elect to invest your funds in things like mutual funds, FDIC does not insure that money.



Q8 Today’s presentation had estimates for IND and FAM. Can we have estimates for Employee plus Children and Employee plus Spouse?

A8 The next set of estimates distributed will include all four categories of coverage available to ACPL employees – and will be available in early October.

Peter