Just a few weeks into his presidency, President Donald Trump plans to expand the use of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), allow the sale of health insurance across state lines, require price transparency from all healthcare providers and allow consumers access to imported, safe and dependable drugs from overseas.
Previously, HSA accounts were typically paired with high-deductible insurance plans, eliminating other groups that could benefit from having a pre-tax account available. Trump proposes making HSA accounts more widely available and likely increasing the individual annual contribution limit from $3,400 to $6,550 and the family annual contribution from $6,750 to $13,100. The more widespread availability of HSA accounts will require administrators to have visibility into account balances and streamline the process for employees to be able to easily spend the funds on medical expenses.
Trump has also discussed allowing the sale of health insurance across state lines, a platform that he believes will increase competition and lower cost for consumers. Allowing health insurance across state lines will likely bring about regulation changes and will require administrators and brokers to solicit quotes from new carriers and likely varying signup processes and forms to complete the process.
Trump also supports physicians, clinics and hospitals providing pricing transparency so patients can choose the most affordable option for procedures and exams. Consumers will need to have an easy method to compare providers and services and easily make appointments in the same platform. Trump also believes that allowing access to safe, imported drugs from overseas can bring more options to consumers and potentially lower the cost of essential medications.
All of these changes will require administrators and brokers to change the way they sell and manage plans. TPA Stream is building tools to make managing claims data easier for administrators and brokers. Our first offering is focused on attacking pre-tax health accounts. Our proprietary cloud based platform collects EOBs automatically on behalf of employees and then electronically sends the data to administrators and brokers for reimbursement and substantiation purposes with little or no human intervention! As a result, administrative costs are significantly reduced and employees avoid the hassle of submitting claims.
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