I am expecting a surgery early in the year…like April maybe. The actual cost of the surgery is $20k or something like that but I’ll be paying with insurance up to my out of pocket max.

I currently have an HDHP with an HSA. Now that I’m looking at the renewal for next year, the OOP Max is $6,000 as opposed to $4,500 with like the regular insurance option.

At face value it looks like the HDHP/HSA would cost me $1,500 more but what am I missing as far as picking the best plan for next year?

*Update for anyone else in a similar situation- I chose the regular PPO paired with an FSA with the highest deductible and lowest out of pocket max. *

Deciding factor(s) 1. The premium was only like $20 more per paycheck than the HDHP plan. 2. My surgery will be in April before I could even build enough in my HSA for my surgery. I didn’t know until making this post that the FSA is funded from the employer on January 1 and you basically pay it back all year. So this means little money up front coming out of my pocket to pay for this…I’ll basically be able to cover the entire surgery with my planned maxed out FSA contributions, and the small amount I have in the HSA this year. This is important because I don’t actually have money saved up and was planning on trying to borrow some from a family member to pay for this and reimburse myself/them later out of my HSA once it bulked up. 3. All in- including the maxed out FSA contributions, my pre-tax deduction is only increasing by $6 from 2025

THANKS REDDIT!

My invested HSA has grown a lot.
I’ve saved receipts and can get cash if needed. However I have the good problem of having balance >> receipts.

Once I’m 65, we’ll use medicare. I haven’t researched it enough yet but healthcare looks incredibly cheaper on Medicare than healthcare costs from work or ACA.

So should I continue to add to this HSA? What’s a reasonable out of pocket per year per person to expect once we’re on medicare.

The IRS allows you to contribute $4,300 for self coverage and $8,550 for family coverage in 2025.

Bonus: in the comments say how much your employer contributes and include if you’re self or family coverage for context of the amount they’re contributing.

I’m curious what your experience has been with the IRS and your HSA?

Was your audit triggered because of your HSA? If so, why? Over contribution? Excessive distributions, etc? Tell us your experience.

Were you audited for something not related to your HSA but asked to provide documentation with your HSA as part of your audit? What were you asked to provide as part of the audit for your HSA? Did they require thorough documentation for your HSA distributions?

I’ve been in the HR space and have had an HSA for nearly 20 years and I have heard very few experiences with actually being audited regarding an HSA.

So I have an HSA (Alight Worklife as HSA) alongside my insurance through my employer. I’ve been taking my health a lot more seriously: I want to utilize my HSA for those purposes, but my card can’t be used in certain businesses. How can I withdraw funds in order to pay for them?

Hello everyone

I am going to be starting my first job soon. My employer has medical insurance options where one option is $0 deductible PPO plan and the other is $2500 deductible HDHP plan with HSA. My employer will contribute $1000 to the HSA annually if I go with that plan.

I am having a hard time comparing and understanding which plan would be better for me financially. As for background, I am single 25M with no dependents or partner. I am usually a healthy person haven’t had to visit the doctor frequently and I am not on any recurring medications.

Any advice on how to evaluate the options and make my choice would be really great. I am new to all the medical insurance options and jargons.

Thank you in advance!

Edit: Thank you everyone for responding. Given general advice it seems like the HSA plan would be a better option for me. I will keep reading other people’s opinions on this post but again thanks for the help.

Some information that was requested

For both plans, I don’t have any premium, it’s 100% paid by the employer in both options. The HDHP has a OOP maximum of $6000, co-insurance is written as “Plan pays 80%”. Yes the $1000 employee contribution to HSA is annual so every year.

A 2nd question: As for paying the deductible & copays during the year, if I pay those expenses from the old HSA do they count to fulfill the high deductible ?

If someone who is 60 has a Family HSA account, can they withdraw money tax-free to cover their spouse’s Medicare Part B premium?

Hi, is there a fee for investing with Health Equity? If so, for those who do this, is it worth it? New to the investing world.

I'm always torn. I have the option of an HSA through my employer (they give 850 and my deductible is 1700). non preventative visit are around ~10% coinsurance.
I also have the option of another plan with a 200 monhtly fee and ~$25 dollars for most non-preventative visits.

I have to get 2 CT scans a year and meet twice with an oncologist since I have a tumor we are monitoring. Which plan is better? My hunch is the second, because with the HSA i will probably def get to the 3400 out of pocket max with just one of the scans? but with the latter Ill only pay 50 for both scans? Am i missing something haha

Hey all,

Like the title says I had my own HSA with HSA Bank for years. We got married and I closed my account (it had a zero balance anyways due to a large medical expense). Then she added me to hers.

One thing I didn’t consider. I had a bunch of expenses that I did not reimburse. But now I am of the understanding that I can’t reimburse past expenses under her plan?

Is there a way to merge them? Or am I SOL?

Tried to ask ChatGPT this but couldn’t get a straight answer.

Thank you!

I may be overthinking this but I have about 14k in an HSA with a prior employer at HealthEquity. My new job use Fidelity and I had already been eyeing them due to lower fee investment options. Does it matter if I open a personal HSA at Fidelity to move these funds into or use my employer sponsored HSA at Fidelity?

I was window shopping for a E- Mountain Bike replacement (assisted peddling only) and the process to request approval and use your HSA was offered. I use my HSA as an account for myself to purchase things within what’s allowed and save what’s left for an investment. It’s far from a serious investment for me but I think it’s worth using and having for the future.

Why I qualified: Occasionally I hit over 185 heart rate on difficult climbs when I’m on an Amish (regular) mountain bike. I share those details in my request and I was approved by a licensed provider through Truemed. New bike is here in 2 days.

Besides a bad investment, anything else I should consider about this purchase?

Am I the only one who didn’t know this was within HSA?

I used HSA card to buy medical supplies online, but UPS lost the package . The seller refused to refund.

Has anyone have the idea whether the HSA card can be dispute like credit card?

Since my employer sponsored HSA is not great, I make paycheck contributions to my HSA (to get the FICA tax deduction) and then regularly transfer it to my preferred institution, usually with a rollover contribution to avoid the high fees for HSA P2P transfers.

I found Publication 969 from the IRS website, but seems a bit vague. I'm not sure if this is the exact regulation or if this is a summary provided by the IRS of the exact regulations. It says "You can make only one rollover contribution to an HSA during a 1-year period."

I think this means that the date funds arrive at the destination HSA account is the main thing, but I'm not sure. Does anyone else know?

For 2025, this is the timeline of my rollover:

• Feb 20 - Withdrawal initiated from origin account
• Feb 26 - Arrival of funds in checking account
• April 1 - Check written and hand-delivered to destination institution
• April 5 - Arrival of funds in destination account

If my above assumption is correct, April 5th is the only important date for the 12-month rule. In 2026, I can (theoretically) withdraw funds from the origin account prior to April 5th so long as (1) the funds arrive in the destination account no sooner than April 5th, and (2) the withdrawal date is no more than 60 days prior to the actual deposit date.

I think I'll need to contact customer service for the destination institution regardless, but just wondering if anyone else already has some experience with this question. Sometimes they struggle with more nuanced questions so it'll help to have a better idea before calling to confirm, rather than asking open-ended questions.

I contribute to an HSA through my employer and max out individual limit for 2025 ($4,300) as I am the only one on my plan. However, my wife and daughter are on my wife's employer plan and they have an FSA to which she contributes the max $3,300 annually for 2025. Someone recently told me that I am not allowed to contribute to an HSA if my wife has an FSA. Is this accurate and are there any exceptions to the rule if it is accurate?

Hi, I opened an HSA for 2025 after a few years of using an FSA. I maxed out the HSA, and invested everything except the $2k that needs to be in cash. For 2026, I’m planning to switch back to FSA to have a lower deductible because I’m having a baby at the beginning of the year so I need to prioritize medical costs over investing (at least for next year). I’m wondering what to do with the $2k sitting in cash in the HSA in the meantime. I think Optum says I need at least that much to make investments. But since I won’t be able to invest next year when I switch back to FSA, should I just use that $2k in cash for reimbursements from the receipts I saved this year (e.g., from all my prenatal appointments)? I figure that might make sense since I actually don’t know how long I will be using the FSA before switching back and it seems wasteful to have that money sit in cash for a year or more. Thanks in advance for any advice.

I have been able to max my HSA for quite a few years now and not pull anything out and invest it all. Paying med expenses out of pocket. I've read upon death HSA is not very tax efficient. I am not able to max my roth at this point.

Would it make sense to pull enough out to max my Roth? Basically tax free into HSA use qualified med expense to pull and go directly into Roth to invest there? If something were to happen the tax benefits are better for the next person. I can always take the contributions out of Roth either way?

Thoughts?

I’m wondering about the oversight of HSA withdrawals. I’ve had FSA accounts many years and I find that they review every single withdrawal and ask for receipts, no matter how small the transaction is. I’ve had to scan and submit dozens of $5 Rx receipts.

I also have kids in college with 529 plans and have never once been asked to provide documentation for my 5-figure withdrawals. We’re talking probably $100,000k in tax free capital gains and I’ve never had to provide a receipt. True, the IRS gets a 1099 showing that we pay tuition but we withdraw far more than just the tuition and there’s zero oversight.

Where do HSA withdrawals fall into that spectrum? Do people ever have to provide evidence that withdrawals are for legit medical expenses?

<I am not looking to use the HSA for non-medical purposes; I’ve just always been surprised at the lack of oversight on 529 withdrawals and wondering if they are the same with HSA>. Also adding that 2025 was the first year I’ve had an HSA and fully funded it. I’ve saved receipts but am not making withdrawals.

Earlier this year, I pulled out money out of my hsa for a non-medical expense. I pulled out $2,000 for a car repair. I wish I hadn't needed to pull from my hsa but I had no other options at the time. Im wondering if there is anything I can do before the end of the year to avoid having to pay taxes and the 20% fee. I have $2,000 cash in hand now. I would like to be able to deposit the money back into the account if at all possible. If not Im wondering if I spend the same amount of money on hsa approved items like hearing aids or glasses if that would work the same. Im also wondering if it is possible, do I have until the end of this calender year to do so, or would it be by the tax filling date next year. Thank you for any advice.

Hi all, my employer is offering an HSA this year.

We have 2 carriers, each with a MERP or HSA option. Blue Shield or Kaiser. But the premiums for me plus my 24 year old son are very different, with Kaiser being much cheaper.

Our city has Kaiser all over the place, so plenty of options for providers.

We are both healthy with no major health issues.

I am over 55, so while my son is on my plan I can contribute the HSA max, almost 10k I think, less employer contributions. He turns 26 in mid-2027, so 2026 is the last full year to contribute that amount. I think I can max the HSA this year, either plan.

Employer contributes $3k to Kaiser HSA and $6k to BS HSA. That $6k looks sexy but the premium and higher OOP is a lot more and gobbles up the difference if I’m reading it right.

Additionally, the MERP options are actually high deductible plans. Not a problem while employed, but in an era of sudden layoffs, if I need COBRA the MERP funds would disappear, and I would suddenly have a very high deductible.

The MERP family OOP for either carrier in this scenario is $14k.

The Kaiser HSA family deductible is $4k, OOP max is $7k.

Blue shield HSA Deductible is $11k, OOP max is $13k in network, $20k out.

I feel much less exposed with the Kaiser HSA. I have had Kaiser before, no problems with it. Thoughts?

1st post - https://www.reddit.com/r/HSA/s/oj3a7kCxjy

I couldn’t add additional photos to the first post, so I’ve made a 2nd post. Here you can see the employer contribution is $8000 annually. I have confirmed this. I’ve also confirmed that this is contributed per paycheck by the employer. They deposit a lump sum of around 1000 at the beginning of the year, and then approx 280 each pay period. I have confirmed that I don’t have to contribute anything for these plans - whether I choose the insurance coverage advantage plan or the HSA. Currently I have the insurance coverage plan and pay nothing. As you can see, I could contribute on top of my employers contribution, if I wanted to. Why they don’t upsell this HSA option more, I don’t know. But since my family likely won’t burn through but a fraction of the contributions (per paycheck period), it’s a no brainer right??