BASE^® Blog

For an employer, being able to provide employees with a means to pay for their health insurance premiums on a pre-tax basis, a means to pay for their qualified out-of-pocket health care expenses, and a means to pay for their dependent care expenses is pretty sweet, but, what if BASE® could help sweeten the deal even more?

Let us introduce you to the Lifestyle Spending Account!  This wellness benefit is the perfect complement to the more traditional health benefits such as the Flexible Spending Account (FSA), Health Savings Account (HSA), and other 125 Cafeteria Plans.  The employer allots a certain amount of money towards those expenses that are wellness related, and so the name:  lifestyle. 

The Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA) allows employers to customize a post-tax spending account to help their employees pay for eligible products and services that promote healthy habits and the overall well-being of their employees. 

The BASE® LSA is available to all businesses who want to help their employees pay for eligible expenses that promote physical, financial, and emotional well-being that are not covered by insurance.

Eligible expenses for the LSA include, but are not limited to:

PHYSICAL:  Athletic and exercise equipment, gym, health club, spa and fitness studio memberships, fitness classes and lessons, personal trainers, fitness trackers, entry fees to marathons and passes to ski and golf, and nutritional supplements. 

FINANCIAL:  Home purchase expense reimbursement, financial advisor and planning services, financial seminars and classes, and identity theft services. 

EMOTIONAL/OTHER:  Non-medical counseling services, retreats such as leadership or spiritual, camping supplies, meditation, and personal development classes such as art and cooking, annual park passes, and hunting and fishing licenses. 

The BASE® Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA) helps employers offer an innovative wellness benefit that helps to attract and retain talent, also showing employees their employer cares about their physical health and mental well-being.  This incentive encourages healthy behaviors that will help reduce insurance costs. 

When the employer sweetens the deal by adding in the LSA with other employer-sponsored health benefits, the employer gives their employees the opportunity to better their physical and mental health today, which benefits the company in all the “tomorrows.”  Employers will have happy, healthy, and more productive employees with a plan that won’t break the bank. 

Contact BASE® at 888.386.9680 or visit www.BASEonline.com for more information on how to sweeten the deal with the Lifestyle Spending Account (LSA).

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One of the most important benefits a company can provide their employees is health insurance.  However, many small businesses just simply cannot afford to offer a group health policy to their employees.  But in 2017, a new option was put into law with the QSEHRA.  The Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA) allows employers to reimburse their employees, who maintain minimum essential coverage (MEC), for their qualified health insurance premiums or qualified health care expenses.  This plan allows employers the means to help employees pay for their personal health plan costs, in turn providing more affordable health care.

The BASE® QSEHRA is for businesses who want to offer a compliant health benefit when providing insurance is no longer an option.   

Who is the QSEHRA designed for?

For businesses…

The QSEHRA is designed for any business, with less than 50 full-time employees, who do not offer a group health plan to any employees. 

For employees…

The QSEHRA is designed for any full-time employee, and their families. 

How is the QSEHRA designed and how much can be saved?

A QSEHRA is designed to have an employee purchase their own insurance on or off the marketplace and then to be reimbursed by their employer for that expense.  To see how much can be saved, let’s check out a QSEHRA example: the employer, Dane with Southwest Towing, has chosen to sponsor a QSEHRA and has 10 employees. 

To see how much his employees can save with the QSEHRA, let’s first look into what the cost is for just one employee with a Qualified Subsidy without the QSEHRA.  The monthly cost for the Silver Plan on the Exchange is $500 a month, $6,000 annually.  The employee only receives $150 monthly, $1,800 annually with the Premium Tax Credit.  With the $500 monthly premium to be enrolled in the Silver Plan on the Exchange and the $150 Premium Tax Credit, the employee will still have to pay $350 a month, $4,200 annually for their health premiums.

Next, let’s look at Dane’s employees with the QSEHRA.  Dane has decided to reimburse each employee the annual maximum of $5,450.  For one employee with the Employer-Sponsored QSEHRA, the Silver Plan on the Exchange is still a $500 a month premium, $6,000 annually.  The employee receives $454 a month with the QSEHRA that equals $5,448 annually.  With taking the $500 monthly to be enrolled in the Silver Plan on the Exchange and the $454 QSEHRA, the employee will have to pay $46 a month, $552 annually for their health premiums.

Dane’s employees are looking at saving $304 a month on premiums, $3,648 annually by Dane offering the BASE® QSEHRA.

The businesses that participate in the QSEHRA can deduct 100% of all reimbursements to employees as a business deduction, set a budget or allowance caps, giving more control and predictability, over health care costs.  The employers can attract and retain employees with an expanded business package and have peace of mind knowing that all the legal and administrative procedures are handled by BASE®.   Participants in the QSEHRA, now have additional money to help with the rising cost of health care and have more options and flexibility with their choice of health care.  The employees have the choice to secure the right type of health care coverage that works best for them on or off the Marketplace. 

Contact BASE® at 888.386.9680 or visit www.BASEonline.com for more information on the Qualified Small Employer HRA. 

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