Our
Website Our website is designed to educate
consumers and employersabout Health
Savings Accounts and Consumer Driven Health Plans. A great
place to start learning about HSAs is at our HSA Learning
Center. It contains everything you need to know about
Health Savings Account health plans.
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Did You Know...... Great
Lakes HSA has been advising companies from the first day
HSAs were available. Few companies can make that claim.
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2008 Great Lakes HSA
Provider Database
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Client
Bulletin - 2007
Income Tax Filing Requirements
for individuals with Health Savings Accounts (HSA)
Updated March 20th, 2008
April 15th, 2008 is the
last day you can make HSA contributions for the 2007
tax year! If you file an extension, you do not receive
an extension on your contribution. To estimate your Federal
Tax savings, please refer to the end of this Bulletin.
If you are using Turbo Tax, HSAs are
addressed under “misc. income” rather than
“misc. deductions. I have no idea why they changed
their logic this year, but after speaking with a company
rep, it appears this will be changed back in 2009. For
those using TaxCut, the employer HSA
contribution can be found under Income (when you input
your W2) HSA contributions that were made with after tax
dollars can be inserted under the Adjustments section.
If you would like our complete
five page 2007 HSA tax filing guide,
send us your email/ request and we will forward it ASAP.
Interest
Rates on websites?
We have been reviewing the info on most
HSA providers sites and 9 out of 10 do not have the most
recent interest rates nor do they list the fees associated
with their HSAs. Be very careful before enrolling in any
HSA that is not fully disclosing their fees and interest
rates.
What
if I didn't find a provider in my state?
Unfortunately, we were not able to find a HSA provider
in all states. This does not mean one does not exist!
However, with online banking, it is no longer necessary
to live in the same state as your bank.
The
fees for the HSA providers in my state are extremely
high, what are the typical fees for HSAs?
Sadly, high fees have become the norm. However, thanks
to our provider map, you can quickly find lower fee
alternatives in neighboring states. Great Lakes
Tip - Focus on Fees, Not Interest Rates!
What
exactly are First Year Fees?
First Year Fees were calculated
using the following: Setup fee, Annual
fee, Monthly fee, Transaction fees related
to simple withdrawals or deposits, debit card
fee or other fees that the
typical account holder would pay in the first year of
the account. Fees for traditional paper checks were
not included unless online banking was not available.
We assumed 12 withdrawals a year equal to 20% of the
total deposits, traditional bank statements and a monthly
deposit of $100. This deposit was not considered a monthly,
automatic contribution. The fees were tabulated during
the month of April, 2005 and will be updated in the
first week of January, 2007. We believe this is the
fairest way to compare the HSA providers. However, we
recommend you perform your own analysis to find the
HSA that best meets your needs and goals.
Why
aren't the fees listed for every company? The fees were not listed for a company if our
team could not find the fees listed on the website.
Those who did not list fees were called and emailed
- most would not disclose their fees or respond to our
request for the information necessary to calculate the
first year fees. We would avoid those banks!
What
is more important, a high rate of return or low monthly
fees?
We asked the same question, and designed a program to
analyze the variables. In most cases the accounts with
the lowest monthly and annual fees had the highest Future
Value. The accounts with higher interest rates typically
had higher fees.
What
type of services are provided with HSA accounts that
might justify these fees?
Most banks do not provide technical or product knowledge
related to HSAs. They act primarily as a custodian,
or holder of your account. Banks do not want to get
in the business of providing tax advice! To get expert
advice related to HSAs, you need to talk to a third-party
administrator that specializes in HSAs or a bank that
is dedicated to HSA accounts. Examples are First HSA,
HSA Bank and of course, Great Lakes HSA! This is a very
important service if you are not familiar with the rules
and regulations of HSAs. We recommend everyone go to
a provider that specializes in HSAs. We will be listing
the full service HSA providers in the next few weeks!
Why
is Great Lakes HSA on states other then Ohio? I thought
this was an independent website? If our research team could not locate a HSA
provider in your state or if the lowest fee provider
in your state is above $50, we included Great Lakes
on the list.
Are
you saying these are the only companies where I can
open a HSA? Not at all! Almost every insurance company
that offers high-deductible health plans that qualify
for HSA accounts do offer or suggest an HSA account
that is integrated within the Health Plan. In addition,
we know there are other HSA providers across the country
we may have missed. However, after a team of five, google
searching experts searched the internet for 6 weeks,
we feel fairly confident that this database contains
a majority of the HSA providers across the country.
If
you have any feedback or comments on this database, we
would like to hear from you!
3/2/2008 -
Google to Offer Health Records On the Web Google
Inc. today announced an online repository where
consumers can store their health information --
a move that could boost the nation's fledgling
efforts to adopt electronic medical records.
11/25/2007- Employees
not seeing many HSA bargains - Another
great example of how not to offer a HSA plan to
employees _But when employers offer an HSA
to their workers along with other insurance options,
studies have shown that employees tend to favor
more traditional coverage. Some economists believe
part of the problem is that employers aren't pricing
their HSA's appropriately.
10/3/2007
- Wising
Up on Health Care
Wall Street Journal - They're getting it from their employers, who
are introducing copays, health savings accounts and other consumer-activation
measures with an explanation that ...
9/19/2007 - The
Return of HillaryCare - Thirteen years after “HillaryCare,” her
failed one-woman crusade for universal healthcare coverage, became
a byword for political overreach, Sen. Hillary Clinton is in the
health care business once again.
9/17/2007
- What
happens to a company when a HSA plan is adopted? Five
years ago, the grocery chain Whole Foods Market switched
to a different kind of health insurance, a policy
that puts patients more in control:
9/17/07 - Where
Do the Candidates Stand?
The Council for Affordable Health Insurance has published a comprehensive
guide to the 2008 Presidential candidates' stands on health care
reform. The document is being updated frequently, as candidates change
their position like the weather
9/14/2007
- Fine-Tuning
Consumer-Driven Health Plans. With a few years
of experience under their belts, employers and health
plans are adjusting their consumer-driven health
plan offerings in an attempt to make them more attractive
to plan sponsors and employees.
9/5/2007
- Health
insurers lure young adults
Health insurers are wooing the population least likely to be insured
-- young adults in their 20s and 30s -- with individual policies
tailored to their pocketbooks and health concerns.
9/5/07 OH - Sycamore
Board of Education approves contract, adopts HSA The Sycamore
Board of Education approved a three-year collective bargaining agreement
with OAPSE (Ohio Association of Public School Employees) Local 243
during a special meeting Aug. 29.
8/29/2007 Indiana
to start HSA plan for uninsured
The Healthy Indiana Plan will provide health insurance for uninsured
Hoosiers who earn less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level
-- about $20,400 for an individual and $41,300 for a family of four
-- and who are without access to employer-sponsored health insurance.
State officials have said that as many as 130,000 Hoosier
Major
Changes for HSAs began January 1st, 2007 Click
Here for
our Special section on these changes
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About Great Lakes HSA
In
December 2003, Great Lakes HSA became one of the
first full service HSA providers in the country and
the only insurance broker that offered Consumer-Driven
benefit plans and H
Today,
we are nationally known as one of the leading experts
in Consumer-Driven Health Plans, HSA administration
and Section 223 regulations. When
you work with Great Lakes HSA, you are working with "The
HSA Experts"
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