| |
Summer, 2005
The Highs And Lows Of Health Savings Accounts We looked into Health Savings Accounts, as described in "Benefit Break," (Spring, 2005). We discovered that employees aged 45 years or older with two or more prescriptions would be getting the proverbial shaft. We are a small family-owned business. We currently have only two employees under the age of 30. The rest of our employees are over the age of 35. We found that only the youngest -- those under 30 -- would benefit from this type of health-care arrangement, and then only if they were men. We will look at HSAs again only when and if the rules change. LINDA WYANT Safranek Enterprises Atascadero, Calif. "Benefit break" (Spring, 2005) offered a nice synopsis of the benefits of Health Savings Accounts. One major advantage that was not mentioned is the potential long-term growth that these accounts offer. Not only are deposits to the HSA tax-deductible each year, but any money that is in the account at the end of the year is carried forward. The accounts are owned by the employee. With contribution maximums as high as $2,650 for individuals and $5,250 for families, few restrictions on investment options, and the benefit of tax-deferred growth, an HSA can be a nice additional retirement account for someone who stays healthy. WILEY LONG President HSA for America 
BW MALL
SPONSORED LINKS
Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.
Buy a link now! Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
 Copyright 2005, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version