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CARES Act HSA Updates

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: 2020 Federal Actions

Please be aware

There is a 55-day window for disputing charges on your account. If you believe your HSA has been used fraudulently please call Highmark at the number on the back of your card right away. They will guide you through the process which may include completing forms, so the sooner the better. 

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: 

  1. 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 field workers 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. 
  2. 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. 

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
Paid From Non-MTD accounts

Ministry Expense Bonus for EE Contribution

Employee$25$25
Employee + Spouse
Employee + child(ren) 		$50$50

Family

$75$100

FAQ:

How do I set up and use my HSA? 
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. 
Can you roll over the savings in your HSA year after year?
Yes. Any contributions to your HSA are yours to keep to use for qualified medical expenses even should you exit employment with Reliant.
What are the covered medical expenses that I can pay for using my HSA debit card?
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. You can find a detailed list from the Highmark website. Be aware that you will need to keep receipts of your expenditures for your tax records.
What if your doctor bill is higher than the amount in your HSA?
 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.
Can you reimburse an eligible medical expense from my HSA if I paid out of pocket for it?
Yes.  See Filing a Reimbursement from your HSA for details about this process.  
Can you deposit money into your HSA with personal deposits in addition to payroll deductions?

Yes. You'll want to be aware of annual IRS maximums so that you don't exceed the allowed Annual HSA Contribution Limits. For information how to contribute on your own, see Contributing to the HSA Outside of the Cafeteria Plan.

Are there fees associated with HSA?

Yes, please see HSA Fees for more information. 

Are there annual limits to HSA contributions?

Yes, there are annual limits to HSA contributions set by the IRS. For more information see this page: Annual HSA Contribution Limits

For more HSA answers, see https://help.guidestone.org/highmarkhsa


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7 Comments

  1. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Looks great, Sarah!

  2. Unknown User (daniel.cone@reliant.org)

    Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org) The video says that the ONLY plan eligible for the HSA is the HS3000. Now we have the HS1500. The HSA contribution schedule listed also only reflects the HS3000, NOT the HS1500. Again, only partial misinformation. Up to you if we publish the video. I don't think it will cause problems (i.e., I doubt missionaries will complain it's misleading).

  3. Dave Meldrum-Green

    I'm OK with leaving it as it is. We can update this later on to include the HS1500 plan that we added after this video was completed. 

  4. user-1a794

    hey, Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org), we have been correcting this page and it's definitely not correct yet.  can you revert to a version prior to today? 

    1. Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org)

      Sorry. I bumped it back.

  5. Dave Meldrum-Green

    Unknown User (ed.courtney@reliant.org) user-1a794 ....this line was changed....

    Contributions, earnings, and distributions (when used to pay for qualified health expenses) are 100% exempt from federal income tax and social security tax. 

     

    But HSA employee contributions made through a Cafeteria Plan are not subject to social security tax. So I'm not sure why this was deleted? 

  6. Dave Meldrum-Green

    user-1a794.....I recommend that we keep this section....

     

    Q: What are the covered medical expense that I  can pay for using my HSA debit card? @Cori Crawford Van Oss 

    A: View detailed list by clicking the https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/hcet-ebia/hmrk

     

    But we can also include in the Answer....

    Here is information what are possible medical expenses and how they may qualify https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/hcet-ebia/hmrk . But remember, the employee is ultimately responsible before the IRS to make sure their expenses are HSA qualified medical expenses.