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Launch HN: Lively (YC W17) – 401(k) for Healthcare

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Re: Launch HN: Lively (YC W17) – 401(k) for Healthcare

#31

Post by pbnjay »

suralil wrote: post #18
chimeracoder wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I looked into getting a HSAs through my consulting LLC last year due to the tax benefits, but my current (day job) employer plan includes a mandatory HRA. IANAL, but I'm pretty sure those are entirely orthogonal. You can have both an HRA and an HSA. An HRA is exclusively employer-funded. An HSA is something you can enroll in if you have a high-deductible health plan. You can have an HSA through your employer or ind…

We have tried to answer these questions and many more on our Learning Center. Feel free to check it out here: https://livelyme.com/hsa-faqs/ WRT investments, we will be launching those capabilities by the end of Q2. Stay tuned and feel free to drop us a note anytime about what you would be most interested in when it comes to investment capabilities.

> 3. Can’t have or be eligible to use a general purpose Flexible Spending Account (FSA).

Maybe this was it. My employer plan offers an FSA, so since I don't like throwing money away I guess I'm out of luck.

Re: Launch HN: Lively (YC W17) – 401(k) for Healthcare

#32

Post by clamprecht »

suralil wrote: post #15
bgentry wrote: post #6

1. Do you support individual/non-employer accounts? 2. What are the investment options for the accounts? Can I put it into low-fee Vanguard index funds? 3. Can I roll over from an existing HSA provider, and if so, how painless do you make that?

1. Yes we absolutely do. You can sign-up as an individual. When you get to the sign-up screen, just click on the Individual Account. 2. We are going to be launching investment capabilities at the end of Q2. When we do this, you will have access to invest in low cost mutual funds, ETFs, but also straight stocks/bonds, etc. It will be a self-directed option. 3. Yes you can rollover! But be sure to ask your provider if…

If you can offer Vanguard funds with no crazy fees, you will be extremely popular on bogleheads.org. There isn't a clear leader for HSAs for people who just want to invest their HSA money in Vanguard funds. There are some options, but they all have fees that seem unreasonable to me. Hopefully Vanguard will eventually just offer HSA accounts directly.

Re: Launch HN: Lively (YC W17) – 401(k) for Healthcare

#33

Post by clamprecht »

imosquera wrote: post #5

Question about the standard HSA, you say I can invest and withdraw with no penalties unlike a 401k. Is that true? What are you guys doing to make it easier, specifically for small business to leverage your product?

The big limitation is you can only contribute $3350 per year (per person).

Re: Launch HN: Lively (YC W17) – 401(k) for Healthcare

#35

Post by vdnkh »

suralil wrote: post #24
mericsson wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about offering a mailing list signup? Instant push notifications doesn't feel like the right medium for receiving info about HSA. Turned me off a bit as well.

Good call. We are in the process of fixing this right now so it doesn't show up. Will let you know as soon as this is fixed. Edit: Ok removed the notifications. If you are still seeing it, please let us know. Thanks to both of you for pointing this out!

You're welcome!

Re: Launch HN: Lively (YC W17) – 401(k) for Healthcare

#36

Post by suralil »

koolba wrote: post #29
suralil wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for your thoughts! You are correct in that investment options are not available right now. We will be launching investment capabilities by the end of Q2. We are focused on allowing our users to get the most out of their HSA. While we have released our minimal functionality for the time being, we will be adding products and services on top of this to make the process of spending your HSA dollars much more strea…

How will you make money off non corporate accounts? Why should an employer pay to set up an account when the employee can do it for free? Generally speaking, the employee is better off anyway because they're in full control. It's not like a 401k where the account custodian is holding the assets. Are cash balances in the non investment funds interest bearing? What are the rates?

We think individuals who have HSAs should be able to save their money without incurring a monthly fee. So many of our own family and friends have told us about how they have a small balance in their HSA account but are getting charged $3, $4, $5, etc. a month just for having that account. We don’t think that’s right so we won’t charge individuals for their basic HSA. Once we have investments up at the end of Q2 and an individual chooses to invest, we’ll charge a nominal flat monthly fee for that.

Since the most people get their HSA through their employer, we’ve built our product in a way that employers can sign up and administer an HSA easily. Things like automatic payroll sync, on boarding in under 10 minutes, viewing the status of where employees are in the process, etc. are all things to reduce the burden of administering HSAs that employers currently experience. For employers who have greater than 10 enrolled employees, we charge $4/month/employee.

And regarding employers, employee contributions to an HSA through an employer's payroll are not subject to FICA taxes (social security & medicare) so when employees contribute to their HSA, the employer saves 7.65% since those contributions are not subject to FICA.

To your question about interest rates, yes we have them available on our website in the Individuals and Families page (in the middle under the white box): https://livelyme.com/individuals-and-families/.

Re: Launch HN: Lively (YC W17) – 401(k) for Healthcare

#37

Post by _jgvg »

Any plans to include features easing long-term management of HSAs?

For example, one popular way to hack your HSA is not requesting any reimbursements when the expenses happen, letting your cash grow tax-free for decades and then request reimbursements from the old receipts. Today this requires detailed record-keeping by the customer, it would be great if that was a feature:

- Request reimbursement

- Set timing (now or save for future)

- Add receipts/etc.

- Reimbursement is approved by HSA

- "Saved reimbursements" are stored/tracked for future use

- When it's time to withdraw, user selects amount ("I need $10k") and HSA creates a portfolio for withdrawal ("You'll get reimbursed for claims 23, 46 and 73 adding to $11,456")

Re: Launch HN: Lively (YC W17) – 401(k) for Healthcare

#38

Post by suralil »

_jgvg wrote: post #37

Any plans to include features easing long-term management of HSAs? For example, one popular way to hack your HSA is not requesting any reimbursements when the expenses happen, letting your cash grow tax-free for decades and then request reimbursements from the old receipts. Today this requires detailed record-keeping by the customer, it would be great if that was a feature: - Request reimbursement - Set timing (now o…

Yes absolutely. This is something that is on our roadmap. generally speaking, certain powerful features of the HSA (as you pointed out) are not well understood by people. We want to build product to pull out the best features and highlight them. This is a great thought. Keep them coming!

Re: Launch HN: Lively (YC W17) – 401(k) for Healthcare

#39

Post by suralil »

clamprecht wrote: post #33
imosquera wrote: post #5

Question about the standard HSA, you say I can invest and withdraw with no penalties unlike a 401k. Is that true? What are you guys doing to make it easier, specifically for small business to leverage your product?

The big limitation is you can only contribute $3350 per year (per person).

For 2017, the individual limit is $3,400 and for families it is $6,750. You are right that HSA accountholders are limited to these amounts as of today.

Re: Launch HN: Lively (YC W17) – 401(k) for Healthcare

#40

Post by mgkimsal »

utnick wrote: post #16

Great idea, I think most people don't realize how great HSAs are. They are better than 401ks in almost every way besides the lower contribution limit. Even if you are very healthy, the category of medical expenses you can use it for is very broad.

used to be even broader - there was a time (pre aca) when I could pay for most OTC medications with HSA funds... not anymore. :(
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