How can HSAs help women?
When it comes to financial planning, women may need to think a little differently. A health savings account (HSA) is a type of account that helps pay for qualified medical expenses. Anyone enrolled in an HSA-eligible health plan can open an HSA—even if your employer doesn’t offer one. With federal tax advantages, long-term growth potential, and flexibility, HSAs can benefit everyone—especially women, helping them spend efficiently and build financial confidence. As you review your options, especially during open enrollment, consider speaking with a financial professional to find out if an HSA may be a good fit.
Knowing women tend to earn less and spend more on health care over their lifetime, take more career breaks for caregiving, and live longer than men, it’s important for women to leverage every advantage available,1,2,3,4 which is why an HSA can be so impactful to women’s finances. It can be more than just a way to cover qualified medical expenses. It can also help build long-term financial security. Here’s why.
7 benefits of HSAs for women
- HSAs can help you save and pay for qualified medical expenses.
Women can expect to pay 18% more for health care over their lifetime compared to men,4 excluding any maternity-related expenses. One of the key benefits of an HSA is being able to cover qualified medical expenses with pre-tax HSA dollars, helping to avoid paying those costs with after-tax dollars and ultimately helping to potentially reduce your tax bill and maximize your savings.
- HSAs are triple tax advantaged.5
You may be wondering what triple tax advantaged means—simply put:
- Contributions are tax-deductible (or pre-tax via payroll).
- Earnings can be invested and potentially grow tax-free.
- Withdrawals are tax-free for qualified medical expenses.
These HSA tax advantages make it one of the most efficient accounts available for managing health care expenses.
- HSAs can help pay for more than you think.
From family planning and menopause to autoimmune diseases and mental health treatments, women tend to need more health care services than men.6 An HSA can help pay for routine care like your annual physical copays, dental cleanings, and vision checkups, but it can also help you pay for more specialty services than you might realize. Here are a few examples of what an HSA may help you cover.7 Note this is not a full list, and it is your responsibility to determine whether a particular expense is a qualified medical expense:
- Birth control pills
- Fertility treatments
- Hormone therapy
- Pregnancy tests
- Menstrual products
- Postpartum care
- Lactation expenses
- Menopause medications
- Long-term care premiums (restrictions apply)
- Health care–related travel
- Therapy
- Cosmetic surgery (if deemed medical care)8
- Breast reconstruction surgery
- Guide dog
- HSAs have reimbursement abilities.
One lesser-known benefit of HSAs is that you can reimburse yourself for qualified medical expenses at any point in the future, as long as the expense occurred after you opened the account. So even if you don’t have your HSA debit card on you at the time payment is needed, simply keep and store the receipts to pay yourself back.
- HSAs are both flexible and portable.
Your HSA is 100% yours to keep. The money is yours even if you change jobs, switch health plans, or retire—unlike the money in a flexible spending account (FSA). And since 3 out of 5 caregivers are women,2 having a flexible account can be helpful. Whether you’re caring for your child, a spouse, or another qualified dependent, an HSA can help support those responsibilities and pay for your dependents’ qualified medical expenses alongside your own.
- You can invest your HSA for potential growth opportunities.
HSAs don’t come with a “use it or lose it” rule like with FSAs. Your balance rolls over from year to year, allowing you to build and grow your savings over time—however, there are annual HSA contribution limits to be aware of. You have full control over how and when you use the account. You can spend on your current needs or save for future expenses. You also have the ability to invest your HSA contributions for potential long-term growth.
- HSAs can act as a multipurpose retirement account.
Even though the namesake focus of the account is health savings, an HSA can be a “stealth” way to save for retirement. At age 65, HSA funds can be withdrawn and used for nonqualified medical expenses without a penalty (though those withdrawals would be taxed as income). That flexibility allows an HSA to function similarly to a traditional IRA—while still offering tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses at any age. Since women tend to retire with roughly $70,000 less than men,9 an HSA can help make up the difference.