What does retirement have to do with health care? A lot. And there’s an investment vehicle out there that can help with it.

Most people aren’t thinking about Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) as an investment option for retirement, but an HSA is one of the best options on the market. As the name implies, HSAs are designed to help individuals sock away cash for medical expenditures. HSAs offer several other benefits, such as:

100% of unused funds roll over year-after-year,
funds go with you even if you switch employers,
they can pay for the eligible expenses of your legal spouse and tax dependents regardless of their insurance, and
be used for Medicare premiums as well as qualified long-term care premiums.
Most employees use HSAs for short-term costs; however, building those funds long term is just as important. A recent study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that more Americans are turning to HSAs to cover medical expenses, but very few use them for retirement planning. The study also found that few people are investing their HSA funds for the long term, and even fewer are maxing out their HSA contributions. The research was based on nearly 6 million HSAs with $13 billion in combined assets. And regardless of any findings, most people will incur substantial health costs in retirement, for which HSAs can help.

It’s important for participants to understand the best way to use the HSA is by treating it as an investment tool, primarily because of the triple-tax advantage. As of just a few years ago, 4% of accounts had investments other than cash. Understanding the HSA’s investment potential won’t occur overnight for most people. It’s also unreasonable to expect everyone to have the wherewithal to use their account solely for investing.

However, by educating participants and employers on the long-term value of the HSA, it’s realistic to expect a behavioral shift and an uptick in participants using the HSA as an investment tool for retirement. A key point here is to start using and funding HSAs now, while contributing close to the annual limits if possible.

A Health Savings Account (HSA) is an individually owned, tax-favored account that allows individuals to pay for qualified health care expenses. In order to set up or contribute to an HSA, you must be covered by a Qualified High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). Premiums associated with an HSA-qualified plan are usually lower than a traditional plan, allowing employees to capture the savings and fund their account.

HSAs remain popular because consumers are looking for more choices and more ways to save. For example, HSAs offer triple tax savings. This means any HSA contributions can be made either pre-tax or are tax deductible at year-end. Any interest income or earnings on investments tied to an HSA remains tax free. As long as the HSA funds are used to pay for qualified health care expenses then no taxes will be charged on distributions. HSAs are extremely versatile, and there are many other benefits of opening an HSA.

Here are 5 tips to maximize your HSA account:

Go beyond December 31; put that end-of-year bonus to good use

As long as you don’t go over the annual HSA contribution limits set by the IRS, you can sock away your HSA dollars until Tax Day.

Apply the last-month rule

This rule allows individuals who are eligible on the first day of the last month of their taxpaying year, which is usually December 1, to contribute the full yearly maximum. For example, if your HDHP coverage started October 1, 2018, you’d be eligible to contribute the maximum for 2018 since you were covered before December 1, 2018. That’d total $3,450 if you have individual coverage and $6,900 if you have family coverage.

Use the once-per-lifetime IRA transfer

It can be difficult to find the funds to get started with an HSA. However, HSA rules allow a once-per-lifetime transfer from a traditional or Roth IRA to an HSA. The same HSA contribution limits for the year apply.

Reimburse yourself

Use receipts for the health care expenses you paid for with non-HSA funds and repay yourself from your HSA account. For example, let’s say you paid your recent health care expenses out of pocket, and never withdrew money to repay yourself. And now you’re a little short on paying for a major house repair. You can use the receipts for the health care expenses you paid for with non-HSA funds and repay yourself from the HSA account.

Get your family involved

By naming your spouse as a beneficiary, he or she gets your same tax benefits. If you name your child or anyone else as beneficiary, the funds are taxable income in the year they are received. If you have a child starting with a new HSA, you can help out by depositing funds into their account to help them meet their annual contribution limit.

According to recent research, health savings account (HSA) participants are savvier health care consumers and more engaged in health care decision-making than their peers.

Relative to the general population, HSA holders are 80 percent more likely to save aggressively for future health care savings, 68 percent more likely to have a savings goal, 54 percent more confident in forecasting out-of-pocket health care costs and 46 percent more likely to research and compare costs, according to the 2018 Alegeus HSA Participant Profile Report.

Given these findings, along with the substantial benefits HSAs provide employers and employees, one might wonder what can be done to help sustain the predicted rise in HSA uptake. Whether you’re a broker or employer, there are plenty of options available to help facilitate and sustain HSA participation growth:

Educate employees

Education is essential if you’d like more employees to achieve the status of informed HSA participant. Many consumers still lack the knowledge of basic health care concepts. They need substantial training and support to understand how HSAs could benefit them. To give you an idea of the enormity of this problem, only 19 percent of the general populace can pass a basic true/false HSA proficiency quiz.

Fortunately, the benefits offered by HSAs are undeniable. Employers can expect to see a considerable increase in account adoption if they can effectively communicate the value of HSAs to their employees.

Incentivize employee participation

It’s crucial for employers to incentivize employee participation by contributing to their accounts. This is one of the most important things an employer can do if they want to see more employees opt-in for HSA and HSA-eligible plans.

Reinforce the value of HSAs throughout the year

One of the biggest mistakes employers make is only providing educational materials to employees during open enrollment. Organizations should communicate the benefits of HSAs throughout the year. It’s especially effective to focus on timely information that guides HSA holders to optimally fund, spend and invest their health care dollars.

It’s also effective to offer resources across a range of formats when discussing the benefits of HSAs. Webinars, on-demand videos, promotional displays, Intranet pages and account comparison tools are all effective options.

Most people have a hard time understanding health plans and benefits. So, while strong growth is projected for HSAs over the next few years, don’t fall into the trap of feeling a false sense of security. Consistent year-round communication, along with employer account contributions, is the best route forward for seeing increased HSA employee participation.