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Included in the CARES Act passed by Congress in March 2020, were expansions of the definition of qualified medical expenses for reimbursement from HSA funds. See: CARES Act - Benefits Information |
Overview
A Health Savings Account, often called an HSA, is a type of bank account specifically for individuals covered by high deductible plans, like those offered by Reliant. You can contribute to this plan tax-free, and the annual amount contributed to HSA is reported to the IRS each year with your tax return. The funds can be used for any legitimate medical expenses at any time in the future. You can pay for qualified health expenses now, as well as pay for future health expenses on a tax-advantaged basis. The funds in this HSA belong to you even beyond your employment with Reliant.
Contributing to an HSA
Once you have enrolled in a Guidestone Health Saver plan, you will be able to set up an HSA through the Highmark website. Once you send confirmation to benefits@reliant.org that your HSA has been opened, Reliant will make the monthly contributions for you automatically. There are two portions of the contributions that Reliant helps direct to your HSA each month:
- Employer Contribution - ER
- This contribution comes from non-MTD Reliant funds. Reliant leadership sets the Employer contribution rate each year, and it is the same for all missionaries based on their coverage level. Current contribution rates can be found in the table below.
- This contribution is not deducted from your paycheck.
- This contribution does count towards the Annual Contribution Limits for your HSA.
- Employee Contribution - EE
- This contribution is deducted from your paycheck each month.
- You determine how much you will save. Please reference Annual Contribution Limits when calculating your desired contribution.
Reliant will then deposit the employee contributions from your paychecks along with the Reliant employer contribution in to your HSA.
This contribution is part of the Cafeteria Plan offerings from Reliant. It must be selected each year at Open Enrollment time. You do have the ability to change, add, or drop a HSA election by filling out an updated cafeteria plan form.
Beginning in 2020, Reliant is offering a taxable ministry expense bonus that can be used to increase personal HSA contributions. You will need to accept the ME bonus on your support goal and then sign up in Open Enrollment for a HSA contribution as part of the cafeteria plan. This is depicted in the yellow column.
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Contributions that Reliant sends to our HSA provider may take up to 5 business days from the date of the pay day to be available for use. Funds may appear on the Highmark site, but there may be an additional delay in accessing those funds for debit card purchases. |
Medicare Enrollment and HSA Restrictions
Upon reaching Age 65, if you decide to delay enrolling in Medicare, you must email us benefits@reliant.org with your expected enrollment date at least 6 months prior to enrolling in Medicare so that we can cease your HSA contributions. This is because when you enroll in Medicare Part A, you receive up to six months of retroactive coverage, not going back farther than your initial month of eligibility. If you do not stop HSA contributions at least six months before Medicare enrollment, you may incur a tax penalty. For more information and details see Medicare FAQs
Contribution Amounts
Coverage Level | ER Contribution | Ministry Expense Bonus for EE Contribution |
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| Employee | $25 | $25 |
| Employee + Spouse Employee + child(ren) | $50 | $50 |
Family | $75 | $100 |
FAQ:
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| See instructions for setting up HSA account on this Solomon page: How to Set Up Your Coverage Account on HighmarkBCBS.com. After you have opened your HSA, PNC will provide a Highmark BCBS personal debit card(s) to use to pay for any qualified health expenses. If needed, you may also pay for qualified health expenses personally and reimburse them later from your HSA spending account. |
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| Yes. Any contributions to your HSA are yours to keep to use for qualified medical expenses even should you exit employment with Reliant. |
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| Any medical expense that is actually a medical expense. These include doctor visits, prescriptions, dental costs, vision costs, birth control, and any care that is prescribed by a doctor (you'll want to keep the note from the doctor in your records). Ultimately, allowed expenditures are guided by IRS regulations. Here is one accounting firm's detailed list: https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/hcet-ebia/hmrk. Be aware that you will need to keep receipts of your expenditures for your tax records. |
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| You can either pay out of pocket and reimburse yourself later with your HSA account funds, or you can ask to be put on a payment plan with your doctor using your HSA for the payment. |
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| Yes. See Filing a Reimbursement from your HSA for details about this process. |
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Yes. You'll want to be aware of annual IRS maximums so that you don't exceed the allowed Annual Contribution Limits HSA. For information how to contribute on your own, see Contributing to the HSA Outside of the Cafeteria Plan. |
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Yes, please see HSA Fees for more information. |
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Yes, there are annual limits to HSA contributions set by the IRS. For more information see this page: Annual Contribution Limits HSA |
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| For more HSA answers, see www.highmarkbcbs-hsa.com or Guidestone HSA FAQs. |
