The Cigna Choice Fund OAP medical plan is a high deductible health plan (HDHP) that offers a health savings account (HSA) component. An HSA is a type of savings account that lets you set aside money on a pre-tax basis to pay for your qualified healthcare expenses.
HSA Advantages
Some of the advantages of an HSA are:
- Your HSA contributions go into your account before taxes. This lowers your taxable income. As a result, you pay less in taxes.
- The money you take out to pay for eligible healthcare expenses continues to be tax free.
- You can use the money in your HSA to pay for your out-of-pocket healthcare expenses, such as deductibles, copays, etc. or save the funds for future use. The money is yours forever.
- Any unused HSA funds roll over to the next year.
- The IRS does limit the amount that you may contribute to an HSA each year. For 2022, the limit is $3,650 if you have employee only medical plan coverage or is $7,300 if you have medical plan coverage of employee + dependent(s). These limits include any amount Inovalon contributes to your HSA. Employees age 55 or older during 2022 can make an additional catch-up contribution up to $1,000.
HSA Contributions
If you enroll in the Cigna Choice Fund OAP with HSA, Inovalon will contribute the amount outlined below to your HSA. The amount is based on your annual salary* and level of HSA medical plan coverage. The full amount of the annual employer contribution will be deposited in January 2022 for employees who enroll in the HSA medical plan during Open Enrollment.
*Annual base salary as of October 1, 2021
HSA Eligibility
There are some circumstances that may impact your eligibility for an HSA:
- You cannot have both an HSA and a regular Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA). You can have an HSA and Health Care FSA if your FSA covers eligible dental and vision expenses only (called a Limited Purpose FSA).
- If you have an HSA, your spouse cannot be enrolled in a Health Care FSA or HRA with his or her employer.
- You cannot be enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid.
- If you have other medical coverage through Tricare/Tricare for Life or have received VA benefits within the past 3 months and do not have a disability rating, you cannot have an HSA.
- If you have coverage under your spouse’s medical plan, you cannot have an HSA.
- You cannot be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.