HSA & HRA Solutions

Superior Benefits specializes in Employer Health Savings Accounts (HSA) and Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) solutions. Employers have struggled for years with managing the increasing cost of healthcare. Today, consumer-driven healthcare is the single most effective tool to bring overall cost down for both the employer and their employees. Following are some important facts that support Consumer-Driven Healthcare:

• 29% of employees do not utilize any of their yearly benefits.
• 53% of employees utilize $500 or less in yearly medical costs.
• 73% of employees utilize $1,000 or less in yearly medical benefits.
• 15% of employees are responsible for 85% of total medical costs.

What is a Health Savings Account?

A Health Savings Account (HSA) combines a high deductible health insurance plan with a savings account. The employer or employee can contribute pre-tax dollars to the employee’s Health Savings Account. These contributions are used to pay for qualified medical expenses for the employee. For most Health Savings Account plans, once an employee reaches their deductible, the health insurance carrier covers 100% of that employee’s medical expenses for the rest of the calendar year.

Employer Benefits

• Lower health insurance premiums.
• Employer HSA solutions help minimize renewal rates.
• Employer and employee contributions to Health Savings Accounts are pre-tax, lowering the gross payroll and reducing the amount of taxes employers must pay.
• Encourages employees to get more involved with their healthcare decisions.

Employee Benefits

• HSA contributions are employee-owned.
• Tax-free contributions (earnings & distributions) for medical expenses.
• Employer contributions to an employee’s HSA are excludable from the employee’s gross income, so the contributions are not taxable to the employee.
• Un-used HSA contributions roll over with interest every year.

What is a Health Reimbursement Arrangement?

A Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) is a funding mechanism offered in conjunction with a high deductible health plan. The employer funds a portion of the employee’s deductible, and those HRA funds pay for qualifying health care expenses that are typically covered under an employer’s medical plan.

Employer Benefits

• Lower health insurance premiums.
• Employer HRA contributions used by employees are exempt from employers payroll & social security taxes.
• Preventative visits typically cover 100% and do not deplete the employers HRA fund.
• Encourages employees to get more involved with healthcare decisions.
  

Employee Benefits

• Preventative visits typically cover 100% and do not deplete employee’s HRA fund.
• Un-used funds can be carried over to the next year to cover future health care expenses, giving employees a great incentive to use their personal HRA wisely.
• Unlike an HSA, HRA’s have set prescription co-pays found in a traditional health insurance plan.

Jeff Orbin of Global Staffing had this to say:

"Having traditional health insurance for 10 years, we were apprehensive about switching our employees to a health savings account, but desperately needed to lower our premiums.  Superior Benefits developed an excellent group HSA solution for our business. We made fixed monthly contributions towards each employee's HSA and still saved over 12%. One of our employees was hospitalized in February and met his $2,000 deductible right away. The rest of the calendar year his medical expenses through Unitedhealthcare were covered 100%. This included a follow-up outpatient surgery, prescriptions and Dr. copays. We figured that same employee would have paid over $3,500 in out of pocket expenses if we stayed with our same traditional plan. We were very pleased with the HSA solution that Joe and the team put together."