Medical Savings Accounts

The Medical Savings Account course and certification program is designed to help you
understand and manage medical savings programs for employees, such as health
savings accounts (HSAs), health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), health flexible
spending arrangements (health FSAs), and HRAs offered through voluntary employees’
beneficiary associations (VEBAs). It is designed for both students and working
professionals seeking career advancement in human resources, finance and business
management with Minnesota public employers. Although there is an emphasis on the
public sector, most of this information translates to programs offered by private
employers.

Offering the right combination of medical savings accounts can be critical to your
workforce. Educating employees is equally important. Goals include helping
employees pay for medical bills on time to avoid incurring medical debt, and helping
them retiree with considerable savings in a VEBA, HSA, or both that may be used for
medical expenses in retirement.

The goals of this course are as follows:

• We will help you understand IRS rules for all forms of medical accounts so you
  can counsel employees and help prevent mistakes that may result in tax
  penalties and other problems.
•  We will help you to avoid common pitfalls and problems, such as identifying
  programs or policies that might disqualify your employees from making HSA
  contributions.
•  We will take you under the hood of the medical account industry, so you
  understand vendor contracts, fees, card arrangements, and the systems that
  make them work.
• Our goal is to aid in your professional development by providing the whole
  picture, so you can make meaningful contributions to the decision-making
  process when evaluating programs and vendors.
•  Lastly, we will do our best to keep the material simple and fun. A tall order but
  we’ll do our best!