How New Banks Are Specializing in Health Savings Accounts

Record numbers of people have been opening tax-advantaged Health Savings Accounts to get tax deductions for a wide range of health-related expenses. So, it's not surprising that there's a bank solely dedicated to health-related accounts. Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association members established the Blue Healthcare Bank, and it can provide a Health Savings Account (HSA) in all 50 states. A Blue Cross Blue Shield HSA, like any other HSA, offers a tax-free way to save money for health-related expenses.

The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association is a national group of 39 independent insurers, such as Blue Cross of Idaho that was among the first members to work with the Blue Healthcare Bank. The new bank can administer Health Savings Accounts for the 98 million people who have Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, but no one has to open a HSA just because they have Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance.

Health Savings Accounts Work with Lower-cost Insurance

To start a HSA, you must buy one of the high-deductible health insurance plans that can be combined with a HSA. As insurance premium increases spike by up to 39 percent, more people are switching to High-Deductible Health Insurance because these plans have lower monthly premiums than traditional plans.

Since high-deductible health insurance plans cost less, you can contribute what you save on premiums to a HSA. If you're relatively healthy and don't have regular medical expenses, you'll save on premiums without having to spend much for medical-related fees.

Health Savings Accounts Earn Tax-free Interest

Like an IRA, a HSA earns tax-free interest, and all funds left in your account at the end of the year are carried over to the next year. When you retire, you can withdraw your HSA balance like an IRA.

If you're under age 65, you can open a free HSA when you buy a qualified high-deductible health insurance plan, and you can keep your HSA even when you're covered by other policies. You can't have medical expenses paid by both insurance and a HSA, though.

Compare HSA Plans to Find the Best Rates

Not all high-deductible health insurance plans work with Health Savings Accounts. To open a HSA, you'll need a compatible high-deductible health insurance plan, and you'll need to compare plan benefits and rates.

Check the policies' annual deductible, which is the amount you'll have to spend before coverage begins. After the deductible is met, what percentage will you have to pay for specific services, such as doctor office visits? That percentage is called coinsurance. Look for the annual out-of-pocket maximum, and the lifetime limit on coverage. Be sure you understand how the limits and maximums can interact. Working with in-network doctors and hospitals may be significantly less expensive so be sure you know which are considered in-network.

Contributions to a HSA Are Tax-deductible

In 2010, you can contribute up to $3,050 as an individual, and families can contribute up to $6,150 to a HSA. Contributions are not required, but your HSA contributions are tax-deductible, and withdrawals from a HSA to pay for qualified medical expenses are tax-free.

Contributions can be made with pre-tax dollars through employers, or you can take a tax deduction when you pay for medical expenses with post-tax dollars.

Health Savings Accounts Can Be Used for Diverse Health-related Costs

In addition to common health-related fees, the qualified expenses you're allowed to use your HSA to pay for include expenses that may not be covered by health insurance. That includes dental fees and dentures, as well as the fees of psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, psychologists, and psychotherapists. Physical therapy fees are also qualified, including chiropractor services, hydrotherapy, and medical massage.

You can also use your HSA for acupuncture, aromatherapy, Ayurvedic medicine, healings by Christian Science practitioners or other healers, homeopathy, nutritional consultants, and traditional Chinese medicine. Vitamins prescribed by a doctor, nonprescription medications (such as aspirin and cough syrup), and birth control pills are also qualified.

Vision correction, including contact lenses and replacement insurance, eye glasses and exams, and laser eye surgery can be paid for from a HSA. A closed-caption decoder for TV, hearing aides and batteries, lip-reading expenses, modified phones, and special education are also qualified.

If you need adult disposable diapers due to neurological disease, an autoette or wheelchair, braces, crutches, handicapped car controls or modifications to accommodate a wheelchair, home modifications for medical care (including elevator systems and reclining chairs for cardiac patients), mattresses prescribed for arthritis, orthopedic shoes, or a prosthesis, you can use your HSA.

In addition, your HSA can be used to pay for childbirth classes, programs to stop smoking or lose weight, and treatment-related lodging (up to $50 per person with restrictions) and transportation. Dyslexia and remedial reading training are also qualified. You can even pay long-term care premiums from a HSA, and you can pay for these expenses for your spouse or any dependent family member even if that person is not covered by your insurance. All of these payments can be deducted from your income to reduce your taxes.

By Wiley Long - President, HSA for America - Professional advisors offering personal assistance on Health Savings Accounts. Run instant HSA quotes, compare HSA insurance, apply online and save!

Year-end Health Savings Account Tax Strategies

2007 is just around the corner, and there are several issues to consider if you currently have an Health Savings Account (HSA), or are planning on getting one in the near future.

100% of the deposit you place in your Health Savings Account is deductible on your federal income taxes. All but four states also make HSA contributions tax-deductible on state income taxes. If you are looking to reduce your 2006 tax burden and put away more money for retirement, your HSA is the first place you should put your money if you have not yet maximized your contribution.

The maximum you can contribute to your HSA in 2006 is the lesser amount of your deductible, or $2,700 for singles and $5,450 for families. Individuals who are 55 or older may contribute an additional $700. Note that contribution limits are pro-rated, based on the number of complete months during the year in which you have a qualifying HSA health insurance plan.

You have until April 15 (or later if you file for an extension) to make your 2006 contribution. If you do not fully fund your account for the current year, you cannot make a catch-up contribution for 2006 after this deadline. However, you can reimburse yourself in later years for qualified expenses incurred in 2006, even if you do not have the funds in your account to reimburse yourself at this time.

In 2007, the maximum annual HSA contribution will go up to $2,850 for individuals and $5,650 for families. Individuals 55 or older will be allowed to contribute an additional $800.

To maximize your tax benefit for 2007, it is important to have your HSA-qualified health coverage in place no later than January 1.

In order to pay for a medical expense from your HSA, it must be a qualified expense. Some of these qualified expenses include dental expenses, eyeglasses, chiropractic visits, over-the-counter medications, and sometimes even nutritional supplements.

Now is a good time to make sure you have an accurate record of your medical expenses for the year. Make sure you separate the expenses for which you have reimbursed yourself from your HSA from those that you paid for out-of-pocket. You'll want to keep receipts for all medical expenditures paid from your HSA with your 2006 tax records. Place the "non-reimbursed medical expenses" in a separate file, keeping them with the concurrent year's tax records in whatever year you decide to reimburse yourself.

The penalty for over-funding your HSA is a whopping 6%. You have until April 15, 2007 to withdraw excess funds for the 2006 tax year to avoid the penalty. Your HSA administrator may notify you of any over-funding, but they are under no obligation to do so. It is your responsibility, so make sure you check into this if you think your may have over-funded you account.

The minimum deductible for HSA-compatible health insurance plans in 2006 was $1,050 for individuals and $2,100 for families. In 2007 this will increase to $1,100 for individuals and $2,200 for families. If you currently have an HSA-qualified plan with the lowest eligible 2006 deductible, that deductible will automatically go up on January 1 to the new minimum.

Strategies to Maximize Your Tax Benefits

There are basically three different strategies you can take when deciding how to fund your health savings account.

1. Put no money in the account, except when you incur a medical expense. This strategy allows you to legally "launder" any money used to pay medical expenses. In other words, by depositing money into your HSA, then immediately withdrawing it to reimburse yourself for medical expenses, you are making your medical expenses all tax-deductible. You may want to use this strategy if you are on a tight budget and want to keep your cash outlay as low as possible.
2. Fully fund the account, or at least put in as much as possible based on your budget. Take money out of the account any time medical expenses are incurred, and let the rest grow tax-deferred. This strategy will maximize your tax deduction, while making your HSA funds available to pay any non-covered medical expenses before your deductible is met.
3. Fully fund the account, but pay all medical expenses from a non-HSA account. Reimburse yourself for medical expenses at a later date. This strategy will allow you to maximize your tax deduction, and will also allow you to maximize the tax-deferred growth of your HSA. You can then reimburse yourself, tax-free, at any time in the future for medical expenses incurred over the ensuing years.

To maximize the potential growth of your funds, you may want to make your 2007 deposits as early in the year as possible. Any growth in your account is tax-deferred, like an IRA. If possible, you should plan to make your deposit the first week in January.

By Wiley Long - President, HSA for America (http://www.health--savings--accounts.com) - The nation's leading independent health insurance firm specializing in individual and family coverage that works with a Health Savings Account. Please link to this site when using this article.

Small Business Health Insurance Quotes - 3 Simple Tips to Saving Money on Health Insurance

As a small business trying to establish a positive cash-flow and make ends meet at the end of the month, health insurance costs are probably one of the major financial burdens you carry and where ends just don't meet. Thus, to help you in your journey to stop the bleeding and increase the savings, here are 3 tips you can use to lower your health insurance costs.

Tip # 1 - Group Plans

If you're a small business trying to provide affordable quality health insurance to its employees, getting a group plan can almost always provide you with lower premiums as well as other benefits, such as, being accepted as a group and not as an individual. This can eliminate the preexisting concision problem and may even allow you to obtain other discounts and benefits that would not be available to individuals.

Tip # 2 - Tax Deductions

Operating a small business that provides health insurance to its employees can also allow you to claim certain tax deductions which can help to alleviate some of that financial burden. For example, if you provide a qualifying insurance plan to your employees, you can generally deduct the complete cost of your monthly premiums. There may be other healthcare tax deductions you may not be aware of and that can probably save you significant amounts of money. All it takes to benefit from these unknown tax deductions is a little research and some due diligence.

Tip # 3 - Shop Around

One of the most effective money saving ideas you can apply, as a small business owner, is to shop around before you buy. By simply getting a few small business health insurance quotes from some of the top insurance providers, you can almost always get a better rate. It's fast, easy, free, and best of all, can add much more to your bottom line.

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Income Tax Deductions For Medical Expenses

Reduce your tax bill by deducting medical and dental expenses

Many taxpayers find it beneficial to itemize their deductions on their federal tax return. One of the many deductions you can take are payments you made for medical and dental expenses. But a large number of taxpayers miss some expenses they could have claimed to lower their tax burden because they don't know they can use it as a medical tax deduction.

What Medical Expenses Can I Claim?

Generally, you can deduct expenses for medical or dental care you paid for yourself, your spouse and any dependents. The most common expenses include:

· Premiums paid for medical, dental or long-term care insurance

· Insurance deductibles and co-payments

· Fees paid to doctors, dentists, chiropractors, and mental health practitioners

· Payments to hospitals, long-term care facilities and services, nursing services and lab fees

· Cost of prescription drugs and insulin

· Price of prescription eyeglasses or contacts, hearing aids and false teeth

Additionally, there are other expenses that many taxpayers don't realize can be deducted from their taxes:

· Payments for acupuncture treatments

· Inpatient expenses at an alcohol or drug addiction treatment center

· Costs for smoking-cessation programs

· Participation in weight loss programs when they are related to a diagnosed disease, like hypertension or obesity

· Fees for laser eye surgery, crutches, wheelchairs, and guide dogs for the deaf or blind

· Transportation costs related to and necessary for qualified medical expenses

What Medical Expenses Are Not Deductible?

When itemizing your medical expenses, be extremely careful about what you deduct. Do not include any of the following expenses.

· Amounts paid for nicotine gum or patches that do not require a prescription

· Cost of purchasing diet food items or the cost of health club dues

· Funeral or burial expenses

· Over-the-counter medicines

· Cosmetic surgeries

· Premiums for life insurance, for policies providing for loss of wages because of illness or injury, or policies that pay you a guaranteed amount each week for a sickness (i.e. supplemental insurance)

How Do I Claim Medical Expenses?

To deduct your qualified medical expenses, first add up all the payments you made that were not reimbursed by any insurance policy. Be sure once you file your taxes, you keep these receipts and statements as proof of your expenses.

The Internal Revenue Service lets you deduct medical costs as long as they are more than 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income (AGI). These costs will be reported on Form 1040, Schedule A. The easiest way to be sure your claiming the proper expenses and meeting the AGI requirement is to use an online tax preparation site, like www.efiletaxreturns.com. The site will ask you specific questions about your expenses and will calculate the amount of your deductions that meets the AGI minimum leaving less room for error or missed deductions. Making the most of your medical deductions will put you well on your way to lowering your tax bill.

File your taxes online quickly and easily at efiletaxreturns.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karin_Velez