American Shareholders Association: New Addition to Shareholder Lexicon: The "Universal HSA"

About ASA

The American Shareholders Association represents the 50% of households and 70% of voters who own shares of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs.

These shareholders are the rank and file of the "new investor class." They hold their investments in 401(k) plans, IRAs, taxable brokerage accounts, and other vehicles.

What unites all these investors is a desire to see public policies that encourage growth and discourage economic contraction. ASA was founded to represent shareholders in their quest to grow the economy, reward risk, and increase the value of everyone's nest egg.

Tax Links

529 Plan Comparisons
The best site to learn about 529 plans and compare state plans.
American Shareholders Association
Wealth of information on capital gains, dividends, tax-advantaged savings accounts, and much more.
Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Tax Reform
The arm of the tax reform movement. Headed up by Grover Norquist
Club for Growth
HSA Bank Calculator
See for yourself how superior an HSA plan is over traditional health insurance.
Independent Contractor "Twenty Points"
The question of whether someone can reasonably be classified as an independent contractor is an important one. The above link is the safe-harbor the IRS and the SSA uses in making these determinations. If you want someone to be an independent contractor, comply with as many of them as possible.
Internal Revenue Service
The belly of the beast. All you need is here, from publications to instructions to forms
Rollover Chart
What the rules are for rolling over accounts into one another
Tax Foundation
These are the folks who produce "Tax Freedom Day" and have been tracking tax issues since the Great Depression
Tax Foundation "Tax Policy Podcast"
This tax podcast is hosted by Scott Hodge and features a great guest list of policymakers and tax experts
Tax History Project
Dedicated to noting the history of taxation. This has the links to Presidential tax returns going back to FDR
Tax Notes
The premier tax publication available
Tax Policy Center
They're lefties, but they have a wealth of information on tax stats at all levels
Tax Talk Today Podcast
Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Podcasts for Tax Pros
Tax Update Podcast
Arizona CPA Ed Zollars has a weekly "Tax Update" podcast geared for tax pros, focusing on a different tax topic every week
TaxAlmanac
This premier tax wiki has real-time Internal Revenue Code/Title 26, real-time Treasury regulations, and a very helpful message board
Understanding Your W-2
A lin-by-line guide to the most common tax form people get in the mail, the W-2
Vanguard Diehards
A message board for the "Vanguard Diehards," a group of guerrilla warfare passive investment true believers (like me)

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

New Addition to Shareholder Lexicon:
The "Universal HSA"

John Goodman of NCPA has come out with a new idea: the "universal health savings account (HSA)." The concept is to combine the best features of the flexible spending account (FSA), health savings account (HSA), and health reimbursement arrangement (HRA). Each has upsides and downsides:

HSAs are portable and can accumulate assets over time. However, they must be paired with a high-deductible health plan, which might scare some people off
HRAs can be paired with any type of plan and can accumulate assets over time, but the money is not portable when an employee leaves a job
FSAs can be paired with any type of plan. However, they are not portable and cannot accumulate assets beyond one year

The "universal HSA" would be portable, be able to accumulate assets (as current HSAs can), but could be paired with any type of health insurance plan (not just a high-deductible one).

There's a tension between those who want to use HSAs as the carrot to get people to adopt the stick of the high deductibe on the one hand, and those who want to allow almost anyone to have an HSA (besides Goodman, the "large HSA" idea at Cato comes to mind). Honest disagreement, but interesting nonetheless.

Posted by Ryan Ellis on Tuesday, August 05, 2008 at 02:10 PM | Permalink