HSA contribution ideas

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
February 7, 2023
1 reply
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We are a MFJ couple and We just had our first child on 1/15/23. My wife's health insurance plan is low cost non HSA qualifying one but since the coverage to a nearby large hospital is great, we are planning to enroll myself (husband) and our newborn to the same plan provided by her employer

So far I have maintained my own health plan HSA/PPO coverage one as single person where I was able to make contributions to my HSA account and my employer made a minor contribution as well.

Question I am trying to assess is:

We want to enroll in my wife's insurance as that is low cost and has great coverage in area where we live but at the same time I want to take advantage of HSA contribution.

I have below option from my employer:

A. Employee only:

B. Employee + Spouse

C. Employee+ Child(ren)

D. Employee+ Family

My employer makes some contribution to the above options and mathematically option C turns out to be better as the amount of coverage I get from employer vs the per paycheck premium/ deduction I have to pay is better that B and D.

Is there a way where I can enroll in my wife's plan and at the same time qualify to make contributions to HSA to highest level possible.

Almost all the time we will use the nearby hospital (hence my wife's insurance) so answer potentially is as simple as why even bother about HSA and coverage that my (husband's) employer provides as we'll hopefully not use that. But I am just trying to make sure I am able to put some money aside in HSA for future needs

Not A Product Question

Opus 17

Level 15

You are only eligible to contribute to an HSA if you are covered by an HSA-eligible insurance plan. You can be covered by more than one plan (your own individual plan and a spouse's plan) but they both have to be HSA-eligible. If you have any "other coverage" that is not HSA eligible, you can't make contributions. "Other coverage" also includes an FSA account attached to your spouse's plan, because even if your spouse's plan only covers the spouse+child, the FSA by law covers the owner, spouse and dependents, so your spouse's FSA will disqualify you even if you are not a covered person on the main plan.

puneetswami9Author

Level 2

I see. I can remove myself from my wife’s plan and that way I am not dependent on her coverage and can I then continue with my own HSA eligible account?

Can child be on both plans ( be on my wife’s low deductible plan and I can add her to my HSA plan to be able to contribute to higher limit with Option C per my OP)

Opus 17

Level 15

Thanks.

Just so I understand correctly, we can do the following

My wife : herself + child

in her low deductible plan

Myself: me + child

HSA eligible plan and can contribute to family limits.

Making sure I am not on my wife’s plans and/or essentially any other plan that is not an HSA eligibile plan
That should work. Correct?

@puneetswami9 wrote:

Thanks.

Just so I understand correctly, we can do the following

My wife : herself + child

in her low deductible plan

Myself: me + child

HSA eligible plan and can contribute to family limits.

Making sure I am not on my wife’s plans and/or essentially any other plan that is not an HSA eligibile plan
That should work. Correct?

Right, but your wife can't take an FSA even if the option is available.

She could have a "limited purpose" FSA, which is a special FSA that only covers thing that are not covered by normal insurance, like vision care and orthodontics. A limited purpose FSA does not count as disqualifying coverage for you, but a regular FSA would disqualify you.

There's more information here.

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-969