Knowledge is Power!
Historically, some employees have stayed away from HSA-based plans because they were not adequately educated on the substantial benefits of Health Savings Accounts.
Simply supplying spread sheets showing benefits for a variety of different plans will lead to incorrect decisions. This lack of education creates fear of the higher deductible and no copays.
Understanding the tax benefits of an HSA is not intuitive. Many times employees will think they are better off with a traditional plan, and the opposite is true.
Important Note: The “ah ha” moment occurs when the educated employee realizes that paying a doctor visit with tax free money is almost as good as a copay; it continues when they realize they will have to earn much less to pay the out of pocket maximum with a health savings account than with a traditional plan! Read more about this “HSA Magic!”
An agent has a responsibility to educate employees on the substantial benefits of paying for healthcare expenses with tax-free HSA dollars. And, Health Savings Accounts provide employees with the new opportunity to plan and save for current and future healthcare expenses, including the surprisingly large retirement health care costs (nearly one quarter of a million dollars!). These long-term benefits are quite substantial compared to traditional plan benefits. Click here to view some of the key HSA benefits employees simply must understand.
Failure to provide education accounts of many healthy employees fearing high deductible plans and opting to pay a greater premium to get low copays and a low deductible. As a result they miss out on the many benefits unique to HSAs.