To Celebrate National Financial Awareness Day, Inspira Shares One Person’s Health and Wealth Journey With an HSA

National Financial Awareness Day provides an opportunity to look at how health and wealth solutions come together to create meaningful impact for individuals. Today’s workforce depends on employers to provide thoughtful and effective benefits. And health savings accounts (HSAs) are an ideal example of how employers can combine support for employees’ health care needs with retirement support.  

The beginning of HSAs 

Since HSAs were introduced in the early 2000s, they have helped millions of Americans save and pay for their health care costs. But the transition to using HSAs was an unexpected change for some at first.  

Take Giovanna Donato-Reyes, senior director head of strategic accounts at Inspira Financial, for example.  

In 2005, Donato-Reyes’ employer switched to a high deductible health plan (HDHP) and HSA-only offering for employee health care. At the time, Donato-Reyes was also seven months pregnant. So, it’s no surprise that this transition felt unstable at first for Donato-Reyes and her family.  

But as someone in the health and benefits industry, Donato-Reyes was confident that HDHPs and HSAs could work for her. She decided to be proactive with her HSA. She called her doctor’s office and hospital to explain her new health care plan and set up payment arrangements. Luckily, her employer also put money into her HSA every month. This monthly contribution from her employer allowed her to set up recurring payments every month without dipping into the funds she was personally saving.  

“Honestly, I didn’t know if it would work, but I was pleasantly surprised that not only did it work, but the medical providers were so happy about it,” Donato-Reyes said. She cited that medical providers often must report debt to collection agencies. “So the fact that I took a proactive approach and said here’s the amount that you can collect every month, they were all about setting up that payment plan. And it was no interest or anything — they were just satisfied that they knew that they would get paid. So it was a pleasant experience.”  

How HSA usage evolves over time   

Donato-Reyes knows that a lot has changed since HSAs first became available, but she still believes they are a solution for everyone.  

“HSAs are really a solution for so many people, and part of that solution is that they can be customized with the changes over the course of someone’s life,” Donato-Reyes said. “So, in the beginning, for me, it was ‘money in, money out.’ That’s just what my financial situation was at the time. And now, 20 years later, I’m getting closer to retirement, and I’ve actually taken the approach of ‘stow it and grow it.’”  

HSAs can be used no matter what stage of life you’re in, and Donato-Reyes points to how her HSA has changed with her needs over time. 

“I can see over the years where the HSA usage has changed with whatever my needs were at that time. As I’ve moved to different employers, I’ve ended up at places that don’t offer a qualified HDHP, and in turn can’t offer me an HSA as a benefit. And I can’t tell you the level of disappointment that I had when an HSA wasn’t available,” she said.  

Part of Donato-Reyes’ disappointment was that when she wasn’t on a HDHP, she had to contribute part of her paycheck toward health coverage she wasn’t necessarily using instead of saving it in her HSA.  

“I am a big advocate of qualified high deductible plans. HSAs, at any point in life, can serve their purpose,” she said.  

While Donato-Reyes may have experienced uncertainty when she first had to get an HSA, that feeling quickly changed as she started to utilize the benefit more and more. She said after that first year with an HSA and using it to pay her bills after the birth of her child, she felt confident in her usage.  

“If I could do this for the delivery of my child, I can do this with anything,” Donato-Reyes said.  

Using an HSA for retirement and beyond  

As time has gone on, Donato-Reyes moved from using her HSA like a spending account to a true healthcare savings account. She sees her HSA as a way to save for eligible health care expenses in retirement. “The idea of having an additional vehicle besides a 401(k) or Social Security makes you feel like you got this.”  

She said one way to approach transitioning to an HSA may be electing the lowest deductible you can for an HDHP in the first year. Then each year after that, assessing your needs and upping your deductible and HSA contributions. Donato-Reyes recommends considering paying for the smaller expenses out of pocket as much as you can so you can grow and save your HSA funds.  

Another way to preserve your HSA funds is to take advantage of other benefits you may have available to you. For example, instead of using your HSA to cover dental and vision expenses, you could pair your HSA with a limited purpose flexible spending account (LPFSA). An LPFSA allows you to set up a pretax account specifically for dental and vision costs. Donato-Reyes also recommends taking advantage of benefits like lifestyle spending accounts (LSAs) if your employer offers them. LSAs can help you pay for fitness classes, gym memberships, pet expenses, and more, depending on how your employer structures them.  

Donato-Reyes isn’t the only one who has found HSAs to be helpful throughout different life stages. Katie Levene, content strategy manager at Inspira, also expressed the benefits of HSAs as her family grows.  

“The appeal for me of an HSA account is I’m in control, no matter what may happen,” Levene said.  “So, when I moved jobs and landed at Inspira, I moved my HSA with me, and when the year ends, the money’s still mine. That is a huge appeal of an HSA.”  

Donato-Reyes and Levene are just two examples of the impact that HSAs can make for employees over their lifetimes. Employers who want to help their workforce save for health care both now and into retirement can consider HSAs as a powerful savings vehicle. 

Financial awareness is being mindful of income, expenses, and savings. It means managing finances today and planning for tomorrow. Learn more about Inspira and Financial Awareness Day.