Health and wealth — too often people are forced to choose between those two critical pillars of personal well-being. But with the right employer-provided benefits, people can finance their healthcare needs in the short term without long-term sacrifices.
The health savings account (HSA) is the first tool that comes to mind for supporting employee financial and physical wellbeing, and it has a lot of advantages.
What Is an HSA?
An HSA is what it sounds like. This pre-tax savings account allows High Deductible Health Plan holders to allocate up to $3,550 pre-tax toward an HSA annually. Participants can use that money with their existing policies to pay for any qualified out-of-pocket health care they may need.
Because balances accrue over time, HSAs also empower holders to invest and build more for the future. HSAs don’t come with a “use it or lose it” ultimatum, meaning unused funds can roll over to the following year. And because they’re employee-funded, they’re also employee-owned. So, if you sign up for an HSA at your job and get a new gig, your HSA comes with you.
How Do HSAs and Paytient Work Together?
With rising inflation and healthcare costs, more and more people have had to choose between their health and their finances. According to Gallup, a record 38% of Americans delayed medical treatment because of cost in 2022. HSAs and Paytient create more financial flexibility to ensure affordable access to care today while maintaining a strong financial position for the future.
Paytient is a different type of employer-sponsored benefit that employees can use to pay for care. Employees who activate the card receive a virtual and physical Visa credit card with an allowance of anywhere from $500 to $5,000 available to spend on medical, dental, vision, pharmacy, mental health, or vet care. After every use, members choose a repayment plan (up to a max of 12-36-months) with no interest or fees—ever.
Paytient supplements employees existing HSA, creating financial flexibility so members can make the most of their tax-advantaged accounts. Employees can pay for care before they have accrued sufficient HSA balances, avoid spending down their HSA so balances can grow, and address costs not covered by their HSA.
Another option is to apply those tax-free HSA funds, once they have accrued, to an outstanding Paytient balance, ensuring those healthcare costs benefit from the HSAs triple tax advantage.
Paytient and HSAs aim to make wellness affordable and accessible to as wide a range of care as possible. When used together, they brighten employee’s financial and physical outlooks in the present and future.
