HSA Welcome Kit

In addition to your participation in a qualified High Deductible Health Plan, there are a few additional qualification rules in order to be considered eligible for each month during the year. Please make sure NONE of the following are true:

• Are you covered by another insurance plan, including any of the following:
  
  - Coverage under your spouse’s health plan? 
  
  - Your spouse’s participation in a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and/or a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) at work?

  - Supplemental health insurance policies, including those from other countries?

• Are you covered by any part of Medicare?

• Have you used VA non-preventive health benefits within the last three months?

• Can you be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return?

If any of the above becomes true during the year, your HSA eligibility may end, affecting the contributions and distributions you are allowed from your account. If you believe you may not be eligible, please contact the Customer Support Center for assistance.

Contributions can be deposited to your HSA from several sources. As the account holder, you reap the tax benefits of all deposits made.

• Employer Contributions – Your employer may elect to contribute funds to your account on a pre-tax basis. Amounts may vary from year to year.
• Payroll Deduction – If your employer allows it, contributions may be deducted from your paycheck. Deductions may be on a pre-tax or post-tax basis, depending on how your employer’s benefits program works.
• Catch-up Contributions – Those age 55 and older are eligible to contribute additional funds above the annual IRS limit, up to $1,000 depending on monthly eligibility.
• Personal Funds – You may deposit personal funds to your account. Such deposits are completed on
  a post-tax basis and then are deducted on your Federal 1040 tax filing to achieve pre-tax status.

If you have any questions about funding your account, contact the Customer Support Center for assistance.

Your HSA Debit Card

Your HSA debit card will be mailed to you within 7-10 business days after your account is established. To activate your card, simply call the toll-free number provided with the card and follow the instructions provided over the phone. You may use your HSA debit card to pay for medical expenses as soon as contributions are deposited to your account. If you incur expenses and your balance is not large enough to cover the cost, you can reimburse yourself for any out-of-pocket medical expenses once your balance increases.

Transactions using your HSA debit card will generally appear in your account within 1-3 business days and can be reviewed through your online account.

Lost or Stolen Debit Cards

If your HSA Debit Card is lost or stolen, or if you think someone is using the card without your permission, call the credit union immediately to report the loss and request a new card. Report a lost or stolen card to Elements Contact Service Center at 1-800-621-2105.

At the Doctor's Office

Most carriers do not require payment at the time of service; however, if you feel you should need to make a payment at the doctor’s office, first show your health insurance card. This helps ensure that you receive the lower negotiated rate for the services rendered.

Then complete payment with your HSA debit card. Your doctor should then file a claim with the insurance company and the payment amount should be applied to any outstanding deductible you may owe. If your HSA balance is not large enough to cover the expense, complete payment with personal funds and reimburse yourself once funds are available.

At the Pharmacy

To pay for a prescription, show your health insurance card to the pharmacist to get your network’s negotiated rate for the drug. Then complete payment with your HSA debit card.

Your HSA funds are available to pay for qualified medical expenses. Those expenses the IRS has determined to be “qualified” are listed in Publication 502 and defined in IRC Section 213d. A link to this list is available within your online HSA.

Examples of qualified medical expenses payable from your HSA:

• Health insurance deductible and co-insurance payments
• Physical examinations
• Prescription drugs
• Dental care
• Vision care
• Chiropractic care
• Medical Equipment

As of January 1, 2020, over-the-counter medications and feminine care products are eligible expenses.

Note: If you use your HSA funds for non-qualified expenses, and are under the age of 65, you may incur a 20% penalty and owe income taxes on the amount used. After age 65, HSA funds can be used for any expenses with no penalty, but you may still owe income taxes on those funds. Qualified expenses remain tax-free after age 65.

Be sure to show your insurance card at the doctor’s office and pharmacy to guarantee negotiated discount rates.

When buying prescriptions:

• Shop around. Not all pharmacies charge the same amount for the same medication.
• Check out large discount retailers who now offer medications at deep discounts.
• When taking a short-term medication, ask your doctor about free samples.

When seeking medical care:

• Go to the emergency room only for emergencies. See your own doctor when possible or use urgent care centers and mini-clinics if possible you can save yourself hundreds of dollars. 

Funds must be available in your account in order to pay for a medical expense with your HSA debit card. You may find your debit card declined at the point of purchase or may be charged non-sufficient funds fees if you attempt to use the card for amounts above your available balance. You can easily check your balance through your online HSA or by contacting the Customer Support Center. If you do not yet have enough funds in your account, you may pay with your own funds and reimburse yourself through your online account at a later date when additional deposits have been made.

Keep Your Receipts

The IRS requires that you keep your receipts for HSA expenses. While you can track your expenditures online, the itemized receipts will be required should you ever be audited by the IRS. You may upload receipts to your online HSA account for each transaction, to allow for easy retrieval at a later date. See the following page for more information about this online feature.

Keep your receipts with your annual tax file. Failure to retain receipts could result in required payment of taxes, penalties, and interest if expenses cannot be confirmed as “qualified” expenses. Please speak to your personal tax advisor regarding any tax consequences for your personal account.

Tax Reporting

Your HSA Debit Card will not function in ATMs or at non-heath related merchants such as gas stations. The purpose is to prevent your account from being overdrawn which is not allowed by the IRS tax code and would cause your account to no longer qualify for HSA status.

Because your HSA funds are tax-advantaged, there are some reporting requirements for the IRS at tax time. You will receive a Form 1099-SA and a Form 5498-SA from the account custodian each year which should be kept in your tax file.

As an HSA holder, you must submit Form 8889 with your Form 1040 tax filing, reporting information related to your HSA.

If you contribute to your account through employer payroll deduction, or if your employer contributes to your account, such contributions will be reflected on Form W-2 provided by your employer each year.

Reconcile Expenses — Upload Receipts

Your HSA account is the most convenient place to manage your receipts and see your progress toward your health insurance deductible. There are three ways you can interact with your health expenses:

1. Automatic – Link your personal accounts

When you link your personal banking accounts or credit/debit cards to your HSA account, your transactions will automatically be pulled into the “Unreviewed” tab in your HSA’s “Healthcare Expenses” page.

Transactions you make via your linked cards and accounts will be moved into one of three groups: Very likely, Potential, and Unlikely healthcare expenses.

The transactions that most likely include HSA qualified purchases (ex. Dental or Doctor’s visits) will fall into the “Very Likely” category. While transactions at merchants that are not typically associated with health care expenses will fall into the “Potential” or “Unlikely” categories.

Pharmacy transactions will typically fall into the “Potential” category, but since it’s possible to make non-HSA eligible purchases at the pharmacy, all linked account transactions will remain in the “Unreviewed” tab until you indicate that the transaction was in fact an “Eligible” HSA expense.

2. HSA Card Transactions

Whenever your HSA card is used, funds from your HSA account will be used to cover the charge. For that reason, all HSA card transactions are automatically added into the “Reimbursed tab” of the “Healthcare Expenses” page. There is no need to link your HSA card to your account.

3. HSA Card Transactions

For those who prefer not to link your personal bank account or credit/debit cards, you may enter your transactions manually. Click the “Add New” option in the upper right of the “Healthcare Expenses” page to create your transaction.

Manually added expenses will be added to the “Unreimbursed” tab until you indicate that you’d like to be reimbursed for the charge from your HSA account.

Receipts

To upload your receipt:

1. Locate the transaction in the “Unreviewed, Unreimbursed or Reimbursed” tabs on the “Healthcare Expenses” page.
   
   
2. Click the transaction you’d like to add a receipt to 

3. Upload your receipt document and save your changes.

For assistance in adding receipts, please contact the Customer Support Center at 1-855-440-4472.

Elements Financial HSA members have access to an investment program through DriveWealth. Those who do not plan to use all of their HSA funds for current year medical expenses may wish to consider investing HSA dollars for potential added savings.

Please note: Your medical expenses can only be paid from the Elements HSA, not from your DriveWealth investment account. Therefore, funds must be liquidated from their investments and moved back to your credit union HSA in order to use those funds for expenses.

Who is DriveWealth?

DriveWealth serves as Elements' new Health Savings Account investment broker-dealer. They are pioneers in fractional trading and embedded investing, committed to transforming the investment landscape by providing fractional, transactional, and mobile investing.

DriveWealth offers a seamless investment solution with either open brokerage (self-directed) or a select list of investment offerings. You can manage the investments in your HSA with a host of modern features, including:

• Embedded investment experience within our HSA offering
• Multiple investment paths
• Real-time trades during U.S. trading hours
• Fractional shares
• Automated funding

Participation Requirements

To invest, you must have an account balance of at least $2,500 in your HSA at the time of enrollment. Eligibility does not constitute enrollment in the program. You must actively elect to enroll to use the investment funding provided to you within the Elements' HSA.

Prior to meeting the $2,500 threshold, with DriveWealth, you have the ability to pre-enroll. With our pre-enrollment option, you set your investment account details along with your investment path now before reaching the minimum amount to invest. Then, once your HSA hits the threshold needed, your investment account will be activated, and your HSA investing journey will officially begin.

Post eligibility and enrollment in DriveWealth, you’ll be able to invest any amount over your cash threshold of $2,500. If your HSA account balance goes below $2,500, you will not be able to move additional funds to your investment account.

Enrollment

To begin the enrollment process, log into your HSA by clicking your Health Savings Account tile in Elements online banking or mobile app. From the left navigation menu inside the HSA portal, select Investment Account from the navigation bar.

The pre-enrollment screen will display a message in the event you are not yet eligible to enroll in DriveWealth. You will be able to choose your investment path and have the option to set up an automated funding sweep in advance to reach the $2,500 cash threshold.

Whether you are pre-enrolling or if you are eligible to enroll, you’ll then have access to enroll in either the open brokerage or select list investment path along with schedule an automated funding sweep if desired right from the Investment Account page that allows you to begin investing immediately upon reaching the threshold.

Both during the enrollment experience and once you’ve enrolled in your chosen investment path, you’ll be allowed to set up an automated funding sweep.  With this feature, you set your investment funding threshold to any amount you choose, select the specific funds, and assign percent purchase allocations to any future contributions that exceed your desired funding threshold.

Multiple Investment Paths

During enrollment within Elements’ embedded HSA investment program, you will need to choose one of the investment paths to begin.

• Curated Fund List — Designed to simplify investment decisions and avoid the research required when self-directing investments, accountholders manage their investments by choosing from a list of preselected available funds.
• Open Brokerage — Accountholders can buy and sell a variety of investments, such as stocks, bonds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). DriveWealth offers around 5,500 instruments.
• Managed (coming soon) — Owned by the accountholder but managed by Bend’s Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), Alliance Benefits Group Consultants. Funds are selected based on an individual’s age and risk tolerance.
  
  NOTE: Alliance Benefit Group, LLC (ABG) is an investment advisor firm that serves as the registered investment advisor (RIA) for DriveWealth. They are responsible for choosing and managing all funds offered in the Elements' HSA.

To manage buys and sells, visit the Investment Account page in your HSA portal and select the Buy or Sell next to the desired instrument.

You’ll see the amount that is available to invest if looking to buy, or you’ll see the amount you currently can sell and pull back into your HSA cash account. DriveWealth supports fractional share trading.

During U.S. trading times, all buys and sells are made in real-time and can be viewed as settled transactions almost immediately afterward in your Activity Tab. Buys and sells made outside U.S. trading hours will also show, but as Pending Transactions, under that same Activity Tab.

At any point, you can change your chosen investment path under the Preferences Tab within the Elements’ HSA investment account. Once a new path is selected, you will need to liquidate all previously invested funds and enroll to manage buys within the new solution.