The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) signals flat Medicare Advantage funding, raising new questions for employers and retirees alike.

ICHRAs offer employers a flexible, tax-free way to control healthcare costs while empowering employees with personalized insurance choices.

As 2025 comes to a close, effective year-end planning for Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) is more important than ever for maximizing healthcare savings and avoiding forfeited funds.

As annual enrollment approaches, employers play a crucial role in guiding employees to select and fund the account that best fits their needs. Instead of focusing solely on the differences between Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts (HCFSA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA), consider a strategy that prioritizes helping employees choose the right account.

Annual enrollment isn’t just a time for employees to select their benefits, it’s a rare moment when they’re actively thinking about their health, finances, and future. In 2025, with rising inflation, increased financial stress, and a growing demand for personalized support, this window is more critical than ever.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are a powerful tool for employees to manage healthcare costs, but many don’t realize just how flexible these accounts can be. As an employer, helping your team understand the full scope of HSA-eligible expenses can dramatically improve benefit utilization, boost employee satisfaction, and reinforce your commitment to holistic wellness.

Higher education is experiencing a period of profound disruption and change. Economic pressures — including threats to research funding, an expansion of the endowment tax, and cuts to state support for public universities — are putting many institutions under significant financial strain.

As job structures shift, many workers lack employer-sponsored healthcare. Forward-thinking employers partner with Via Benefits to offer individual coverage without increasing budgets.

As healthcare costs continue to rise, plan sponsors are searching for cost-effective, flexible solutions to provide retirees with quality coverage while maintaining financial sustainability. The individual marketplace offers a modern alternative to traditional group health plans, enabling plan sponsors to reduce costs, mitigate risk, and enhance choice.

As the year draws to a close, it’s important that both employers and employees focus on year-end planning for spending accounts. Proper communication from employers on how to manage these accounts before the year ends ensures that employees maximize their benefits and avoid losing any unused funds. 

Healthcare Flexible Spending Accounts (HCFSAs) are important because they provide a tax-advantaged way for employees to manage out-of-pocket medical expenses. By allowing pre-tax contributions and reimbursements, FSAs reduce taxable income, which can lead to significant savings.

Both HSAs and FSAs offer tax benefits when managing medical expenses, but differ in eligibility contributions and rollover options. Understanding these helps align with financial goals. 

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are increasingly valuable in today’s economic landscape, primarily due to their triple tax advantages: contributions are tax-deductible, growth is tax-free, and withdrawals for qualified medical expenses are also tax-free.

One thing a majority of U.S. employers and employees agree on: employee benefits are key to attracting and retaining good hires, and they are high on the list of priorities for good hires to accept and remain in a job.

Passed in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) includes major changes to Part D intended to control prescription costs, cap maximum retiree out-of-pocket costs and simplify coverage for Medicare enrollees. This strengthening of Part D offers improved coverage for retirees as well as new risks and opportunities for thousands of public sector employers who sponsor group Medicare Part D plans for their former employees.

Since its passage in 2006, the HELPS Act has allowed retired public safety officers to benefit from an annual pre-tax distribution of up to $3,000 from the government when used to pay for healthcare or long-term care insurance.

Employers and plan sponsors that offer retiree healthcare coverage are challenged with many variables and obstacles to keep their plans affordable, compliant, manageable and most importantly, offer value to the participants. The strategy needs to consider the overall benefit design (deductible, copays, out-of-pocket maximums, coinsurance, visit limits, covered expenses, etc.), funding design (fully insured or self-funded) and covered populations, which all combine to represent the overall cost of the plan.

Plan sponsors and participants are both under increasing financial pressure. Costs are on the rise. As the nation experiences the effects of inflation on fuel, food and housing, retired Americans on fixed incomes especially feel the pinch.

SOUTH JORDAN, UTAH, March 20, 2023 — Shopping for and comparing Medicare prescription drug plans has saved retirees using Via Benefits’ Coverage Checkup, its Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug (MAPD) and Part D prescription drug price comparison tool, over $50 million over the past five years.

ARLINGTON, VA, October 11, 2022 — Pressured by rising costs, U.S. employers are looking at alternative ways to provide healthcare benefits to their retirees over the next three years. And some employers plan to replace their traditional group retiree medical benefits for pre-Medicare retirees with individual insurance through private marketplaces. These are among the findings in a new survey by leading global advisory, broking and solutions company WTW (NASDAQ: WTW).