Once again, Cornell will offer endowed faculty and staff the Aetna Health Savings Account Plan (HSA-Plan) for their health insurance during the benefits open enrollment period, Nov. 1-30.

"This program is based on an innovative plan design that is gaining in numbers across the nation because of its savings and tax advantages," says Paul Bursic, director of Benefit Services. For 2011, Cornell will increase its contribution toward the plan, making it more attractive to interested endowed faculty and staff, who will have more control in spending and saving for their health care needs.

The design for the HSA-Plan includes a high deductible, but provides its members with some cash and tax incentives to offset the costs of health expenses up to the deductible amount, if needed. Unused cash in the plan rolls over into the following year's plan, earns interest and is fully available at any time to reimburse the member for qualified medical expenses not covered by the insurance.

In the first three years of the plan, Cornell provided $500 in cash each year per employee to offset the deductible cost. In 2011, the Cornell cash contribution will increase to $1,000 per employee per year.

"We hope the extra cash will draw the interest of participants in other plans. The rules in the HSA-Plan can be complex, but there is plenty of detailed information on our and Aetna's websites to help prospective participants understand the operation of the plan," says Bursic.

In the HSA-Plan, money from Cornell is contributed on a pre-tax basis, and the member does not pay taxes on money withdrawn if it is used to pay for qualified medical expenses, Bursic says. Participants can also contribute some of their own funds on a pre-tax basis to the HSA-Plan account to supplement Cornell's contributions. From a tax savings perspective, one should save as much of the money that accumulates in the savings account as possible to build it up over time, he says.

All the money is immediately owned by the participant and can be taken into retirement to offset qualified medical costs beyond the employment years. "That makes it a better tax deal than the retirement plan, where money withdrawn must be taxed," Bursic says.

Like the Cornell Program for Healthy Living and Cornell's other endowed health plans, the HSA-Plan is a high-quality plan that already meets many of the health reform standards for 2014. It does not have an annual or lifetime limit on essential medical services and cannot be canceled if its participants become sick.

The benefits open enrollment period, Nov. 1-30, provides the opportunity for endowed staff and faculty to change their current health, dental and Select Benefits. To find out more about the HSA-Plan, go to http://hr.cornell.edu/benefits/ or call the Resource Center at Benefit Services at 607-255-3936.