What You Wish You Knew About Health Savings Accounts For Your Financial Plan

What is a Health Savings Account?Health exam image by DrGreenthamb from PixabayA Health Savings Account, or HSA, is a way to save for medical expenses and reduce your taxable income. HSAs could be a good way to help plan for your medical expenses.You need to think if an HSA fits into your life. There isn’t a right or wrong answer to this and it depends if you need an HSA or not.Studies show approximately 26 million people use HSAs to save and pay for medical expenses. To be eligible for an HSA, you have to be enrolled in a high deductible health plan (HDHP) to get a health savings plan. Basically, this means you pay a high deductible before your health insurance kicks in. The money you put into the HSA is saved for future medical expenses.The IRS publication 969 states that “no permission or authorization from the IRS is necessary to establish an HSA. HSAs are set up through a trustee. A qualified HSA trustee can be a bank, an insurance company, or someone approved by the IRS to be a trustee of individual retirement arrangements (IRAs) or Archer Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs).Some employers who offer high deductible savings accounts offer HSAs. If your company does not, then you can open an HSA as long as you have a qualifying plan.If you have a lot of medical expenses, then you may want to consider adding an HSA. You will need to decide, look at your current medical expenses as well as your budget. The HSA is not right for everyone.If you decide to contribute to an HSA, you have to look at this account as a source for medical funding. Then this new source of money could factor into another source for your retirement planning.The HSA offers several benefits…