Arizona Central’s Health Savings Plan is designed to give you more control over your health care expenses, and to offer you a special tax-advantaged strategy for paying qualified medical expenses.

• Health Savings Checking Account
• What is an HSA?
  
• Advantages of HSAs
  
• About High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs)
• Using Your HSA
• HSA Contributions
  
• Frequently Asked Questions

To offer you the most convenient access to your funds, Arizona Central offers the Health Savings Checking Account:

• No monthly service fees
• Low annual plan fee of $20
• No per check charges
• Earn dividends on your entire balance
• Easy account access with the HSA Visa® Check Card
• FREE Welcome Pack of wallet duplicate checks when opening your new account
• Online access to transaction history and balance information through eBRANCH
  
  

An HSA is an account that you can put money into to save for future medical expenses. There are certain advantages to putting money into these accounts, including favorable tax treatment.

Any adult can contribute to an HSA if they:

• Have coverage under an HSA-qualified “high deductible health plan” (HDHP).
• Cannot have other health insurance coverage, such as a spouse’s plan, that is not an HDHP.
• Are not enrolled in Medicare.
• Cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.

Contributions to your HSA can be made by you, your employer, or both. However, the total contributions are limited annually. If you make a contribution, you can deduct the contributions (even if you do not itemize deductions) when completing your federal income tax return.

Contributions to the account must stop once you are enrolled in Medicare. However, you can keep the money in your account and use it pay for medical expenses with a tax advantage.

• Security – Your high deductible insurance and HSA protect you against high or unexpected medical bills.
• Affordability – You should be able to lower your health insurance premiums by switching to health insurance coverage with a higher deductible.
• Flexibility – You can use the funds in your account to pay for current medical expenses, including expenses that your insurance may not cover, or save the money in your account for future needs, such as:
  • Health insurance or medical expenses if unemployed
  • Medical expenses after retirement (before Medicare)
  • Out-of-pocket expenses when covered by Medicare
  • Long-term care expenses and insurance
• Savings – You can save the money in your account for future medical expenses and grow your account through investment earnings.
• Portability – Accounts are completely portable, meaning you can keep your HSA even if you:
  • Change jobs
  • Change your medical coverage
  • Become unemployed
  • Move to another state
  • Change your marital status
• Ownership – Funds remain in the account from year to year, just like an IRA. There are no “use it or lose it” rules for HSAs.
• Control – You make all the decisions about:
  • How much money to put into the account
  • Whether to save the account for future expenses or pay current medical expenses
  • Which medical expenses to pay from the account
• Tax Savings – An HSA provides you triple tax savings:
  (1) Tax deductions when you contribute to your account;
  (2) Tax-advantaged earnings through investment; and,
  (3) Tax-advantaged withdrawals for qualified medical expenses.

You must have coverage under an HSA-qualified “high deductible health plan” (HDHP) to open and contribute to an HSA. A high deductible health plan typically offers a higher deductible in return for generally lower premiums. For more detail, please contact your insurance provider. Federal law requires that the health insurance deductible be at least:

• $1,200* – Self-only coverage
• $2,400* – Family coverage
  

In addition, annual out-of-pocket expenses under the plan (including deductibles, co-pays, and co-insurance) cannot exceed:

• $5,950* – Self-only coverage
• $11,900* – Family coverage
  

Finding HDHP Coverage
Any company that sells health insurance coverage in your state may offer HDHP policies. Although Arizona Central cannot recommend any specific names of companies selling these policies, you should be able to find a qualified policy by contacting your current insurance company, an agent or broker licensed to sell health insurance in your state, or your state insurance department.

* 2010 amounts; adjusted annually for inflation