Voya Financial is helping participants with the “where and how” of health savings account (HSA) investing by launching a new digital assistant—myHealthMoney.
The online tool is powered by financial wellness-provider SAVVI Financial and can be personalized to an individual’s unique needs.
“With the rising costs of health care, an increasing number of companies are now offering high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) in their employee benefits packages,” Voya states. “In fact, nearly half of Americans (46%) with private health insurance are enrolled in an HDHP.”
Most high-deductible health plans are combined with an HSA, the company notes, which allows an employee to allocate pre-tax dollars to help cover medical costs.
“The challenge is working Americans often don’t know how much to contribute to their HSAs, especially when other savings goals are added to the mix. The myHealthMoney online tool is designed to make health care savings decisions easier by providing a suggested amount to contribute to their Voya HSA.”
How it works
Employees are guided through a series of simple questions to gather the necessary information—which takes into consideration key household, salary, savings, medical costs and employer information—to generate a personalized set of suggestions for how the employee might contribute to their Voya HSA.
The digital assistant also evaluates the employee’s current and projected health care spending, as well as tax savings, to recommend what percentage should come from their Voya HSA versus spending “out of pocket” to help cover their annual health care expenses.
In addition, the tool considers an employee’s stated retirement goals when assessing their current and future overall spending needs.
Employees are also able to return to the online tool and reassess their contribution amount when their circumstances change — whether they get married, have kids, change jobs or experience another milestone.
Voya’s customer data shows nearly one-third (32%) of retirement plan hardship withdrawals are due to unreimbursed medical expenses, which highlights how some working Americans are ill-prepared to pay for unexpected costs not covered by their health insurance plan and can result in them dipping into retirement savings accounts.
The company says it could jeopardize their future financial security—especially when the average couple is estimated to need $296,000 in savings for a 90% chance of covering health care expenses in retirement.
“Information is power, and myHealthMoney puts employees in control of helping make informed decisions regarding their health care saving and spending needs,” Rob Grubka, president of Voya Employee Benefits, said in a statement. “At Voya, we pride ourselves on innovating with a purpose. Our approach to financial wellness is centered around workplace solutions that can help Americans balance between living for today while preparing for the future.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
