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Caution – Health Savings Accounts and Social Security
- Chris Stein, CFP®
- Nov 1, 2016
- 2 min read
We have blogged many times about different situations where filing for benefits while still working may be advantageous. Or other times filing then immediately requesting those benefits be suspended can be an effective strategy to maximize your Social Security. I will not be repeating the description of those potential benefits here, but if interested you can easily find them on this blog site through the Search Box. Instead I would like to point out a situation where there is a potential downside to filing and suspending (or really just to filing at all).
Health Savings Accounts
This story starts with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). HSAs are accounts where a qualifying person can put money aside into an account on a pre-tax basis for the purpose of paying for qualified medical expenses without incurring taxes. These accounts are coupled with High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) with the intent that the HDHP pays for large medical expenses and the money in the HSA will go to cover out-of-pocket expenses on a pre-tax basis. You may be wondering why we are discussing HSAs on a Social Security blog site. Well, it all comes down to the qualification rules on contributing to an HSA.
To qualify for an HSA:
You must be covered under a HDHP
You have no other health coverage (with limited exceptions)
You are not enrolled in Medicare
You cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return
Automatic Enrollment In Medicare Part A
Number three in that list is where the connection to Social Security comes in. When you file for Social Security (SS) benefits and you are over the age of 65 you are automatically enrolled into Medicare Part A and you cannot opt-out. Therefore, if you are still working and are at a job that offers the HDHP+HSA combination for health insurance benefits you cannot file for SS benefits without jeopardizing your ability to fund the HSA. This would most often happen in the case where a person who is still working wanted to start claiming Social Security after they reach their full retirement age and are no longer subject to the earnings test. They can collect their full Social Security retirement benefit, but they sabotage their health plan benefits at work because they no longer are eligible to contribute to the HSA since they automatically become enrolled in Medicare Part A.
For more information on this topic, please use the play button below to listen to our audio blog.
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