IMANA and BPAS continue to partner together to offer IMANA members timely and competitively-priced retirement and related ancillary plans. We are pleased to provide information on our most recent collaboration for your consideration – Health Savings Account (HSA) Plans!
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT HSAs
Q: What is an HSA? A: An HSA is a tax-advantaged medical savings account paired with a qualified high deductible plan (HDHP) used to pay for qualified medical expenses.
Q: How does an HSA work? A: Contributions are made to the HSA with payroll deductions through an employer. The amount of pay put into an HSA won’t count as taxable income, so there will be immediate tax savings. Plus, the HSA accumulates investment returns. The money in the HSA is then used to pay for qualified medical expenses.
Q: Who owns the HSA account? A: The employee.
Q: Who can contribute to an HSA? A: The employee and/or the employer can make contributions. Employers may contribute to the HSA as long as the total contributions between the employee and the employer do not exceed the IRS limits.
Q: What are the advantages for an employer to offer an HSA? A: Paired with a qualified HDHP, HSAs can result in significant savings for employers. HDHPs typically come with lower insurance premiums, allowing employers to contribute those premium savings to their employees’ HSAs if they choose to.
Q: Does the money in an HSA roll over from year to year or do the participants lose it? A: The money contributed and any interest earned rolls over from year to year if not used. There is no “use it or lose it” rule with HSAs.
Q: Can the money in an HSA be invested? A: Yes. The BPAS Roadways HSA offers first-dollar investing. With its open architecture platform, BPAS can help you maintain a high-quality and diversified investment menu. For employers who also offer the IMANA 401(k) MEP, a similar fund lineup may be available to the HSA.
Q: Who is BPAS? A: BPAS is a national provider of retirement plans, benefit plans, fund administration, and collective investment trusts. BPAS supports over 3,800 retirement plans, $77 billion in trust assets, $1 trillion in fund administration, and more than 450,000 participants.
Q: How can the BPAS Roadways HSA make employers’ and employees’ lives easier? A: With BPAS Roadways HSA administration, employers save money. With the tax advantages of an HSA, contributions (employer and employee) are made pre-tax, earnings are tax-free, and distributions for eligible expenses are tax-free; employees can save more money for retirement and potentially make money by investing those savings.
Q: How can I learn more about the BPAS Roadways HSA? A: Please contact Ashraf Elghandour of UBS directly at (973) 360-4384 or at [email protected] for more information on this new HSA offering or any of the retirement plans specifically designed for IMANA members.
Akrama Hashmi IMANA Executive Director
For information on the IMANA HSA Plan, contact Ashraf (Al) Elghandour at (973) 360-4384 or via email at [email protected].
