Hsa advantages , Financial Accounting

Assignment Help:

A HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNT AT FRONTLINE PR

Susan Berry just returned from a national conference on compensation and benefits where she attended a session on Health Savings Accounts (HAS). Susan is the Human Resources Director at Frontline PR and her company has been struggling with the cost of healthcare insurance. After speaking with several experts at the conference, Susan now thinks an HAS might be a viable option for the company. Frontline PR is a public relations firm located in the Northeast that employs close to 150 people in four different offices. Public relations professionals make up most of the staff, but they also employ a complete administrative and operations staff. All of Frontline's employees work full time schedules and are eligible to participate in their healthcare insurance plan. Frontline currently offers a standard fee-for-services healthcare insurance option. The plan has a modest deductible of $300 per year and a 20 percent coinsurance requirement. In addition, the company offers a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) that allows employee's to set aside pretax earnings to pay for the deductible, coinsurance, and other medical expenses. Susan is considering offering a HAS along with high-deductible health insurance plan instead of the current insurance plan and FSA. At the conference, Susan learned that making such a change could result in significant cost savings for a company. The high-deductible health insurance plan would cost a lot less for a company than the standard fee-for-services plan that Frontline currently offers. While Susan suggest the Frontline make contributions to each employee's HAS, the overall costs for the healthcare benefit would still be less than its current option. Beyond cost savings on premiums, many believe that consumer-driven healthcare tends to reduce overall healthcare costs. Some of the experts Susan spoke to at the conference stated that when employees have a greater say in their healthcare decisions, they make wiser decisions and do not spend as much on healthcare. Susan has discussed the HAS option with Frontline's Director of Finance, Allison Jones. From the financial perspective, Allison agrees that the option would be a good step to start controlling healthcare costs. However, as an employee who would use the benefit, Allison isn't so sure that an HAS with a high-deductible health insurance plan is the right option for the company. Based on Susan's initial explanation, Allison didn't really understand how the HAS worked. Further, she was concerned that she would have to spend more out of pocket on her own healthcare. Susan is convinced that the HAS option would offer a significant cost savings to Frontline. However, after her discussion with Allison, Susan is still unsure if it is the right path to recommend for her company.

QUESTIONS:

1. What are some advantages of implementing the HSA option?

2. What are some potential disadvantages of the HAS option?

3. What do you recommend? Why?


Related Discussions:- Hsa advantages

Errors-financial period, Errors An error is an error discovered in the cu...

Errors An error is an error discovered in the current financial period but it relates to one or more previous financial periods. Such errors arise due to mathematical mistakes, m

Estimate present value, Calculating Present Value [LO1]  An investment will...

Calculating Present Value [LO1]  An investment will pay you $43,000 in 10 years.  If the appropriate discount rate is 7 percent compounded daily, what is the present value?

Statement of cash flow, under gaap, are proceeds from capital lease obligat...

under gaap, are proceeds from capital lease obligation reported in the statement of cash flow and why

Asset Allocation, In January 2013, Mitzu Co. pays $2,600,000 for a tract of...

In January 2013, Mitzu Co. pays $2,600,000 for a tract of land with two buildings on it. It plans to demolish Building I and build a new store in its place. Building 2 will be a co

Depreciate plant and equipment, 1. According to the notes to the financial ...

1. According to the notes to the financial statements, what method or methods does the company use to depreciate "plant and equipment?" What rate does it use to depreciate plant an

Dividends in arrears on cumulative preferred stock, Q. Dividends in arrears...

Q. Dividends in arrears on cumulative preferred stock a. are shown in stockholders' equity of the balance sheet. b. must be paid before common stockholders can receive a dividend.

Accounting objectives, Accounting objectives Accounting has two main ob...

Accounting objectives Accounting has two main objectives: To assist control over the assets and liabilities, and the income and expenditure of the enterprise; and To

Define country in rigorous recession reflect on devaluation, Define why cou...

Define why country in rigorous recession reflect on devaluation? Countries can deal with the both internal problems with external solutions. Why might a country in rigorous rec

Determine the growth rate of the nominal money supply, The income elasticit...

The income elasticity of money demand is 2/3. Real income is expected to grow by 4.5% over the next year, and the real interest rate is expected to remain constant over the next ye

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd