Why is our firm called "SmarterHSA"?

Over the past eight years, I have had the opportunity to sit individually with thousands of employees, and hundreds of business owners.  One particular theme keeps coming up: 90% of people don’t understand health savings accounts, and it’s costing both the employer and employee a lot of money.
 
Our mission is to make sure business owners are personally leveraging this account to its full potential, and that their benefit programs are designed in a way that allows their employees to do the same. 
 
When an H.S.A. strategy is structured correctly, it has the ability to completely stabilize an employer’s benefit program in 3-5 years.
 
I read all the time about how H.S.As are the best financial accounts available on the market.  They are more valuable than 401ks, FSAs, HRAs.  There is not another account available that allows for triple-tax savings.  The question is: why don’t people know more about how they work?
 
Time and time again I see employers with 10-500+ employees that are not getting engagement, participation, and results with their health insurance strategies.  Based on my observation, there are a couple of key reasons:
 
1. Open Enrollment is more about just getting people through the enrollment process, as opposed to focusing on getting results and doing a great job.

2. Decisions on plan designs, contributions, etc. are made too late in the process, which results in a “we’ll review this next year” approach.

3. Employee education for most employers means handing everyone a benefit guide (40+ pages), and sending them to an online enrollment, either on their own or with someone trying to sell them voluntary benefits.

4. Large brokerage firms don’t have the time to spend doing a great job on your account. Plan designs and contribution strategies are NOT structured in a way that optimizes results. 

​5. Your Broker/Consultant/Advisor is either lazy or is focused on larger accounts.  
 
 
Andrew Gurbada, MBA
Founder & CEO
SmarterHSA, LLC