First few Article Sentences
In today’s competitive marketplace, where budgets are stretched thin, employers want cost effective alternatives to a traditional medical plan. Companies understand that employees have historically enjoyed relatively robust medical plans that offer coverage with little to no out of pocket cost. However, with the rising costs for coverage under a traditional medical plan employers are increasingly modifying medical plan coverage to achieve greater cost savings by implementing High Deductible Health Plan (“HDHP”) designs where employees pay less in premiums, but have higher deductibles and out of pocket costs.
HDHP Plans are growing in popularity amongst employers looking to maximize their employee benefit dollars; however, employees generally see HDHP plans as a benefit take away, since they do have to shoulder more of their own medical expenses. To combat this negative perception employers often elect to offset the cost-shift by funding all or a part of the deductible back to the employee through either a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (“HRA”) or a Health Savings Account (“HSA”). When deciding which of these options to implement, the employer must consider a wide variety of factors, particularly when contemplating an HSA.