As the COVID-19 pandemic has affected many of us in various ways, the CARES Act allows us to buy more items using our FSAs, HSAs, and HRAs. The CARES Act is retroactive to January 2020 and now covers mentrual care products and more. Over-the counter drugs are now eligible to purchase without a prescription.

We recently heard from an advisor partner that collecting funds (e.g., medical premiums) from employees who are out on leave can be a significant challenge for employers. This is especially difficult for smaller businesses who administer employee leave and coordinate billing in-house. 

The healthcare benefits industry continues to evolve with rising costs, changing legislation, and the growing need for education about an ever-increasing range of benefits options. According to Chard Snyder, these key trends remain on the forefront going into 2020:

Since the passing of healthcare reform, many employers have moved to consumer directed health plans
to control premium costs while promoting smarter healthcare spending. Among the 2,400 companies
surveyed by benefits consultant Mercer in 2018, 68% said that they offer an CDHP, up from 59% in 2015.
By 2018, it is projected that three-quarters of U.S.-based companies will offer HDHPs.

For benefits brokers, your work to help Americans offset costs and save for healthcare expenses has never been more critical. Because your daily work lies at the intersection of your clients’ financial and physical health, you are uniquely poised to influence and impact their wellness on both counts.

Research proves year after year that the health savings account (HSA) market is strong—and that since its inception more than 10 years ago, the HSA is here to stay. While many in the financial services industry have been leery of HSAs, questioning their longevity or the amount of money saved in some accounts, the studies are clear—HSAs have seen and will continue to see unprecedented growth, proving to be a steady, mainstream product.

Even as health savings accounts (HSAs) continue to see double digit year-over-year growth, many financial organizations are reluctant to offer, or even see the value of offering, HSAs. On the surface, it appears that HSAs are just “spending” accounts that offer limited value for the amount of work they are to administer. Dig deeper into the HSA market and you’ll find that not all HSA owners are the same.

At WEX Health, we’re constantly monitoring the healthcare landscape for shifts and fissures—and most importantly, for opportunities to make manifest our mission to simplify the business of healthcare. As we feel a sense of responsibility to continuously deliver more ways to help our constituents be better prepared for healthcare costs now and in the future, we are tracking the following health benefits trends in 2019.

Our friends at the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) have been contributing incredible work to the cause of both understanding and improving the financial health of Americans. Now, in new groundbreaking research on the financial lives of Americans, they explore this critically important issue more deeply than ever before. The report, called the U.S. Financial Health Pulse, argues that though facts are readily available on how millions of Americans are struggling with everything from credit card debit to student loans to insufficient retirement savings, it’s not enough to look at these individual markers to measure their financial health.