Tactic to bolster HSA participation some companies don’t use

November 3, 2011 by Christian Schappel

Consistently encouraging employees to contribute to a health savings account (HSA) will only go so far. The best way to max out HSA participation rates is to stress its effectiveness as a retirement tool.

Here’s one thing many employees don’t know about HSAs: The funds left in them are not lost, they continue to grow.

The best way to relay that message to employees: Tell them HSAs work just like a 401(k), but with one big advantage — the tax-deferred funds that are put into the HSA can be withdrawn tax free when used to pay for qualified healthcare expenses.

And if a withdraw is made for another reason — say to pay for food, housing or a vacation — the money is taxed the same as a 401(k) withdrawal.

Now if employees wanted to use money from a 401(k) or IRA to pay for medical expenses, that money will be taxed as income by the IRS.

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