Health Savings Account (HSA)

If you are enrolled in the College's Enhanced High Deductible Healthcare Plan (HDHP) or Basic HDHP, you may be eligible to contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA). An HSA is a bank account that is owned and controlled by you.  An HSA allows you to set aside funds on a pre-tax basis to pay for qualified medical care (including deductibles, copays, and coinsurance as well as out-of-pocket expenses for dental and vision care) for you and your tax dependents.  

Eligibility

To be eligible for an HSA, you must be enrolled in an IRS-qualified HDHP, and you cannot have any other non-HDHP health coverage; this includes Medicare (Part A or B), coverage through your spouse/partner or parent's employer, or a Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) through Swarthmore or through your spouse/partner or parent's employer. If you have questions about how other coverage may affect your eligibility for an HSA, please contact the Human Resources benefits team at benefits@swarthmore.edu.

Enrollment

When you enroll in one of Swarthmore’s high deductible health plan options through the Benefitfocus portal, you will need to answer a few questions to determine your eligiblity to qualify for enrollment in an HSA.  If you are eligible, you will not be able to decline enrollment and you will be automatically enrolled in order to receive the College contribution.  This HSA account is administered by WealthCare but it is managed through your IBX member portal with Independence Blue Cross.  You will need to activate your HSA card when it is received and set up your HSA account online.  You may refer to the IBC Health Savings Account Online Access Guide [PDF] to to assist you with how to set up your account, view and pay claims, as well as access statements and tax documents.

Important Note:  Even if you do not wish to contribute to an HSA, you may still be eligible to receive the HSA contribution that the College makes on your behalf, but you must enroll in the HSA in Benefitfocus to receive the College contribution.  You must also re-enroll in the HSA every annual open enrollment period.

Contributions

Both the Enhanced HDHP and Basic HDHP provide participants who are 0.75 FTE or higher with the same HSA contribution from the College ($1,000 for Employee Only coverage; $2,000 if you enroll one or more dependents); half of this contribution is made in January, and the balance is deposited in July.  There is no HSA contribution from the College for employees who are less than 0.75 FTE.

The IRS establishes annual contribution limits. The maximum amount that can be contributed to your HSA in 2024 is $4,150 for employee only HDHP coverage  and $8,300 for all other HDHP coverage tiers (special rules apply if you cover a non-tax dependent). These maximum amounts include the above HSA contribution the College makes on your behalf.  If you are age 55 or over, you can also make an annual “catch-up” contribution of up to $1,000.

You will never forfeit money you have deposited, as unused funds remain in your account and roll over year after year.  If you ever leave Swarthmore College, or disenroll from a Swarthmore HDHP, you will keep your account and any funds that remain.