Health Savings Account

2024 Plan Information

What Is a Health Savings Account?

When you enroll in Medical Plan Option C, you may participate in a Health Savings Account, or HSA. An HSA is a tax-advantaged savings account you can use to pay for eligible health care expenses now and in the future. The HSA is a savings account — meaning you can save the money until you need it most. Whether you need it now, a few years down the road or after you retire, the money in your HSA is yours to use for eligible health care expenses whenever you choose, even after you leave the Firm.

The account is triple-tax advantaged, which means that:

  • Before-tax paycheck contributions lower your taxable income.*
  • Investment earnings grow tax-free. (Note: Once your HSA balance reaches $500, you may invest funds over that amount, choosing from a menu of investment options).
  • Distributions are tax-free when you use HSA dollars to pay for eligible health care expenses.

*You may also make lump-sum contributions to your HSA at any time.

Who’s Eligible

Generally, you may contribute to an HSA if you’re enrolled in Medical Plan Option C, but there are a few exceptions. You can’t contribute to an HSA if:

  • You’re covered under any other medical plan that’s not a high-deductible plan, including Medical Plan Option A or B, Medicare or Tricare.
  • Any of your eligible health care dependents has a Health Care Flexible Spending Account (HCFSA).
  • You’re a dependent on anyone else’s tax return.

HSA Eligible Expenses

You may use your HSA funds to pay for covered expenses, including medical copayments and coinsurance, dental and vision expenses. Additionally, you may use the funds toward medical premiums and expenses for COBRA, health care exchange plans or Medicare plans. For a complete list of eligible expenses, download IRS Publication 502.

How It Works

Contribute

You may contribute to your HSA up to the annual IRS limits:

2023 Annual HSA Contribution Limit

  • Individual coverage: $3,850
  • Family coverage: $7,750
  • Catch-up contributions: If you’re age 55 or older, you may contribute an additional $1,000 annually until you become eligible for Medicare.

2024 Annual HSA Contribution Limit

  • Individual coverage: $4,150
  • Family coverage: $8,300
  • Catch-up contributions: If you’re age 55 or older, you may contribute an additional $1,000 annually until you become eligible for Medicare.

There are two ways to contribute to your HSA:

  • Set up automatic paycheck contributions. You elect an annual amount, and each month, a prorated amount will be deducted from your paycheck before taxes and contributed to your HSA. (You may change your contribution amount at any time during the year.)
  • Make a lump-sum contribution. At any time in the year, you may contribute a lump-sum to your account. You may want to consider a lump-sum contribution if you want money available at the beginning of the year or, find yourself with an unexpected health care bill, and want to contribute enough to cover the cost of the service. When you make a lump-sum contribution, you receive the tax savings when you file your taxes for that year. There is no limit on the number of lump-sum contributions you make each year (as long as you do not exceed the IRS contribution limit). Lump-sum contributions can be made up until April 15 of the following year. You may contribute by payroll deductions, however, only until December 31 of the current year.

To set up your contributions:

  1. Type benefits in your Morgan Stanley browser.
  2. Click Health Savings Account.
  3. Click Make Contribution under Contributions.

Pay

HSA funds are available as soon as the contributions are made to your account. Use your HSA debit card to pay for eligible health care expenses, or pay expenses out of pocket and reimburse yourself from your HSA later. Alternately, you may file a claim for reimbursement online.

Remember to save any itemized receipts or Explanation of Benefits (EOB) statements to verify your claims. The HSA site includes a “shoebox” feature that lets you upload receipts for eligible health care expenses and store them until you’re ready to be reimbursed using your HSA dollars, which can be now or down the road.

Save

Use funds now or save them for future health care needs, even into retirement. Any unused HSA money rolls over year to year — it’s yours to keep, even if you leave the Firm.

At age 65, you can withdraw your HSA funds for non-qualified expenses at any time, although they are subject to regular income tax. You can avoid paying taxes by continuing to use the funds for qualified medical expenses.

If you are age 65 or older, HSA funds may be used to pay premiums for Medicare Parts A, B, C or D, Medicare HMO and employee premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance.

Investing Your HSA Funds

When your HSA account balance reaches $500, you may invest any funds in your account over that amount in one or more available investment funds. Note: Investment funds may fluctuate with market conditions and that past performance is no indication of future results. It is possible that the market value of your invested HSA funds may decrease.

See the HSA Investment options.

Get Started

To begin investing:

  1. Type benefits in your Morgan Stanley browser.
  2. Click the Reimbursement Accounts tab.
  3. Click Manage Your Account under Health Savings Account.
  4. Click Investment.
  5. Click Apply for an Investment Account.
  6. You can make a one-time contribution or set up automated investments by selecting Setup Automatic Investment Transfers under the Investments tab. You should be automatically transferred to the UMB website.

 

Maximize Your Savings with a Limited Purpose FSA

A Limited Purpose FSA (LPFSA) is like a traditional Health Care FSA, but may be used only for eligible dental and vision expenses (medical expenses aren’t eligible). If you enroll in Medical Plan Option C, you may elect to contribute to an LPFSA in addition to, or instead of, your HSA. If you use your LPFSA for dental and vision expenses, you can save your HSA money for health care expenses in the future. If you enroll in Medical Plan Option A or B, you may not elect to contribute to an LPFSA, but you may instead contribute to a Health Care FSA.

The annual LPFSA contribution limit is $3,050.

Note: If you do not elect to contribute to a LPFSA, you may pay for dental and vision expenses from your HSA. When making your election on the benefits election website, note that this option will appear as “Health Care FSA.”