Disability Pride Month, which was celebrated in July, is an important time to honor the diversity and uniqueness of each person in the disability community and celebrate people who have disabilities. But it's important that we prioritize those with disabilities throughout the year. As someone with a family member who has disabilities, I can share from personal experience that navigating health care and its associated costs can be overwhelming.
I'd like to share ways health savings accounts (HSAs) can cover costs of living with a disability – now and in retirement – and ask employers to consider how we're supporting our employees who are disabled and those employees who are supporting or caring for a family member who is disabled. For example, if you offer HSAs, there might be more ways for employees to take advantage of this account.
If you, your employees, or members of the family have disabilities, there's assistance in the form of tax advantages you can receive if you have an HSA. HSAs are designed to help individuals save for long-term health care needs through investment options and help to pay any health care costs in the present, all while offering a triple tax break. Contributions are tax-deductible, or pretax if made through payroll deduction, money grows tax-deferred, and withdrawals are used to pay medical expenses tax-free. HSAs also stay with the employee whether they change jobs, need to take an extended leave of absence, or retire. The money that's not used rolls over from year to year, and after age 65, the funds can be used for any purpose without penalty – only income tax is assessed if used for non-health-related expenses.
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