About Blue Options HSA

Blue Options HSA pairs a high deductible Blue Options^SM PPO, with a health savings account (HSA) which works like an IRA for qualified medical expenses. To have any contributions made toward an HSA, employees must enroll in an IRS-qualified high-deductible health plan (HDHP) such as the one offered by Blue Options HSA. These plans typically have lower premiums than traditional health plans so your company may save money immediately. You can also choose to contribute to an employee HSA.

Triple tax savings

HSAs are a tax-free way to help employees pay for current and future out-of-pocket health care expenses, such as deductibles, prescription drugs and more. With Blue Options HSA you and your employees can make tax-free contributions to the HSA up to the allowed annual limits. Each year, as the HSA balance grows, it accrues interest tax-free and any qualified medical payments made from it are also tax-free. Additionally, HSAs roll over year-to-year and are completely portable if the account holder changes jobs or switches health coverage.

Engage your employees in their spending

Blue Options HSA gives your employees more responsibility over their health care spending decisions and allows them to determine which health care expenses are important to them. Employees spending their own money will be more selective in their health care choices and may often seek lower cost alternatives, like primary care physicians or over-the-counter medications.

Save now, save later

Blue Options HSA funds can be rolled over from year to year, from job to job, and can grow in value over time. With Blue Options HSA, employees can pay for current qualified medical expenses, as well as save for future medical expenses on a tax-free basis. Additionally, employees can put aside pre-tax dollars for long-term care or qualified medical expenses when they retire.

Strong provider discounts

Even if they haven't met their deducitble, your employees will still save money just by visiting providers in our large network. We've negotiated competitively discounted rates with our providers to ensure savings for you and your employees. For employees with a high-deductible health plan, our provider discounts matter now more than ever.

First dollar preventive care

If you choose, you can offer first dollar preventive care benefits to your employees. You can waive the deductible for preventive care and cover it at 100% or your chosen coinsurance percentage. That means your employees will be covered for a variety of common services vital to good health including:

• Annual physical exam
• Annual Ob/Gyn visit
• Pap smear
• Mammogram or prostate screening
• Standard immunizations

Decision Support Tools

All of our CDHP plans are supported by our Decision Support Tools. These tools provide valuable health information resources and empower employees to make more informed care decisions in partnership with their provider. They can use these tools to determine the average costs of hospital stays, prescription drugs, medical procedures and more. Educated consumers make better decisions about treatment alternatives and reduce future expenses for you.

• Health Care Cost Estimator^SM - Understand your health care costs
• PharmaAdvisor^TM - Find the drug that's right for you
• Hospital Comparison Tool - Find the hospital that's right for you
• Health Line Blue^SM - 24 hour health information resource

Built around our most popular plan

Blue Options HSA is built around our most popular plan, the Blue Options PPO, which offers our largest network of doctors and hospitals and the freedom to go outside that network for care. The only difference is in out-of-pocket cost and whether your employees have to file a claim. And, with the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's Blue Card^® network, they're covered across the United States and in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.¹

• In- and out-of-network benefits
• Our largest network¹
• Worldwide coverage¹
• Access to specialists with no referrals²
• Emergency and urgent care

Mellon HSA Solution^SM2

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) offers the Mellon HSA Solution³. With the Mellon HSA Solution, contributions are placed into a FDIC-insured checking account. Whenever the balance in this account exceeds a specific amount, your employees may elect to invest contributions in a selection of Dreyfus mutual funds, subject to any minimum investment amount required by such funds.³ Other advantages to opening your HSA with Mellon include:

• One integrated application process
• Multiple HSA funding options
• Dedicated account service
• My HSA Account-online account management
• Debit card and checkbook-no claims to file!
• Contribution tracking and monthly statements
• Distribution of all required IRS reporting
• Low monthly fees

If you prefer, you can simply purchase an IRS-qualified Blue Options high-deductible health plan from BCBSNC and elect another custodian or trustee for your HSA.