Health Savings Account

You must be enrolled in an HSA qualified health plan which is the HDHP option. In addition, you cannot be covered by another health plan (including Medicare or Tricare) or be claimed as a dependent on another person’s tax return.

You can contribute to your account with payroll deductions, online by making deposits from your checking account, or by mailing a personal check.

Your HSA funds never expire. Any funds you don’t spend roll over year after year and can be saved for retirement. Although there is an annual limit for contributions, there is no limit to the total amount saved in your account.

Funds in your HSA can be used to pay for any out-of-pocket expenses that you owe as part of your health plan – doctor’s visits, prescriptions, lab tests, and hospitalizations. Additionally, dental, vision, acupuncture, and chiropractic expenses can also be paid with your HSA. For a complete list of qualified expenses, visit https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p502.pdf.

You may designate beneficiaries by logging in to the HealthEquity member portal.

You can contribute to a Dependent Day Care FSA but you cannot contribute to a Health Care FSA. You can enroll in a Limited Flexible Spending Account (LFSA), which can only be used toward eligible dental and vision expenses. 

If you and your spouse are both HSA-eligible (enrolled in PPO 3 HSA, or a different high-deductible plan outside of Loyola), you must share one family HSA contribution limit, as the IRS treats married couples as a single tax unit. You have three options:

• Split the family contribution evenly between the spouses
• Allocate the funds to a division you both agree on
• Contribute the limit to just one's spouse's account

Yes, you may both open an HSA. However, the total amount that may be contributed to your HSAs is still the contribution limit.

If you do not enroll in Medicare and remain in an HSA-qualified health plan, you can continue to contribute to your HSA as you did before age 65. If you choose to enroll in Medicare, you are no longer eligible to contribute to your HSA, but you can continue to use it for qualified expenses. Additional expenses qualify at age 65, including certain Medicare premiums. At age 65 you are also no longer subject to the HSA excise tax, allowing you to use your HSA for nonqualified expenses and just pay regular income tax – similar to how you can use funds from the Defined Contribution Retirement Plan (DCRP 403(b) plan) in retirement.

Once you enroll in Medicare, you are no longer eligible to make contributions to an HSA, but you can continue to pay for qualified health care expenses with your HSA. If your spouse is enrolled in Medicare but you are not, you can still contribute to an HSA and use the account to pay for qualified health care expenses.

Loyola offers a special Health Reimbursement Account to allow for those enrolled in PPO 3 to have access to employer-provided funds that would otherwise fund your HSA. Visit the BenefitWallet site for more information on Medicare and your HSA.

The monthly maintenance fee is employer paid by Loyola as long as you are enrolled in PPO 3. This fee is $1.90 per employee per month if the monthly average balance is $3,000 or less. No fees apply if the monthly average balance is $3,000 or higher.

You own your HSA. If you change jobs or health plans, you continue to own your account. If you enroll in another HSA-qualified health plan, you can continue to contribute to your HSA up to age 65. If you choose another type of health plan, you are still eligible to spend the funds in your HSA on qualified medical expenses — for you, your spouse, and your tax dependents — up to age 65. At age 65 or older, you may use the funds for ANY expenses on a tax-free basis. 

*Note: The monthly maintenance fee is employer paid by Loyola as long as you are enrolled in the PPO 3 HSA plan. This fee is $1.90 per employee per month if the monthly average balance is $3,000 or less. No fees apply if the monthly average balance is $3,000 or higher.