Independent Banker - January 2020 - 19

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employers and any individual who buys it on
their own. " We're looking at offering a premium
rate to folks who put a larger amount into their
account and are using it for a tax break later on
when they are retired and don't have any income
coming in, " says Ellen Reineck, director of marketing
for IncredibleBank.
within their HSA contributions, this is how it
works: The HR department will access the wellness
program data to see who has participated
in the program during a given year. Then, they'll
direct NBH Bank to make an employer contribution
of $500 in each of those workers' health
IncredibleBank will be testing what works
best in digital marketing ads, targeting a certain
household income and tax bracket " that would
find this useful, " Reineck says. " The language
within the marketing will likely be, 'This is going
to be a safe way to make the most for your health
savings account,' " she adds.
Healthcare Bank, a division of $6 billion-asset
Bell Bank in Fargo, N.D., offers HSAs through
an " integrated investment solution, " says Laine
K. Brantner, Healthcare Bank's president and
Bell Bank's executive vice president and director
of operations. " When health savings accounts
came out in 2004, they were essentially checking
accounts, but they've transitioned to also be
investment accounts, potentially also serving as
retirement accounts today. "
Healthcare Bank sells HSAs not directly but
through third-party administrators and other
institutions in a white-labeled offering, he says.
" It's been a significant source of deposits for
us, but we also get custodial management fees for
managing the investments in the HSAs through
our integrated investment solution, " Brantner
says. " Our clients can pick their own mutual fund
choices from over 17,000 funds. If they want
to offer different fund selections or pick stocks
directly, we offer a brokerage solution as well. "
Wellness benefits
In Denver, $5.9 billion-asset NBH Bank not only
supports the retirement savings benefit of HSAs,
but also employers' capability to use the accounts
as incentives to participate in wellness programs,
says Lisa Wolff, who heads the community bank's
HSA program marketing and design.
" We're seeing an uptick of health savings
accounts being combined with wellness programs
and also how powerful a retirement account it
can be, " Wolff says. " We absolutely advocate all
of these things to the employer and at employee
educational meetings. "
For employers that want to include incentives
" It can be a win-win-win
for the employee, the
employer and the bank. "
-Lisa Wolff, NBH Bank
savings accounts, from money the employer provides
to the bank.
" It can be a win-win-win for the employee, the
employer and the bank, " Wolff says. " The more
you can educate the employer and their employees
about the benefits of an HSA now, and also for
future use in retirement years, that benefits us as
well. We want those HSA deposits to grow. "
How to incentivize HSAs
Quick stat
23.4
million
The estimated
number of health
savings accounts
(HSAs) in mid2018,
accounting
for $51.4 billion
in assets
Source: Devenir HSA
Market Survey
Community banks can also partner with vendors
like DataPath, Inc. in Little Rock, Ark., which
offers an all-in-one administration platform for
a variety of benefits, including HSAs and wellness
programs. " Some of the more successful
programs that employers opt for involve linking
HSAs with wellness programs in which employers
make additional contributions, " says Bo
Armstrong, DataPath's chief marketing officer.
The employer decides how to incentivize the
program. The employer can contribute a onetime
amount to a worker's HSA once they enroll
in the wellness program. The employer can
contribute regularly to the HSA if the employee
continues to participate. Or the employer can add
more contributions if the employee accomplishes
certain biometric milestones as measured by
health screening assessments.
" There's a lot of opportunity for community
banks to get involved, " Armstrong says. " There
are so many different ways to piece the puzzle
together. "
Katie Kuehner-Hebert is a writer in California.
independentbanker.org Q 19
http://www.independentbanker.org
Independent Banker - January 2020

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