Consumer Driven Health Plans for Individuals

You can combine the benefits of a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska high deductible health plan with the tax advantages of a health savings account (HSA). Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska offers the following high deductible health plan options suitable for use with an HSA: BlueEssentials Plan, BluePreferred PPO and BluePreferred ValuePlan.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)

A health savings account is an alternative to traditional health insurance. Paired with a qualified high deductible health plan, the HSA offers a different way for you to pay for your health care expenses. An HSA enables you to pay for current health care expenses and save for future qualified health care expenses on a tax-free basis.

HSAs were created to help give control back to consumers and lower health care costs. You own and control the money in your HSA. Decisions on how to spend the money are made by you. You will also decide what types of investments to make with the money in the account in order to make it grow.

You must be covered by a high deductible health plan (HDHP) to be able to take advantage of an HSA. An HDHP generally costs less than traditional health care insurance, so the money you save on insurance can therefore be put into the HSA.

• The contributions you make to your HSA are tax deductible, which reduces your taxable income.
• Interest earned on your HSA money is not subject to income taxes — in other words, you don’t have to pay income taxes on the earnings generated by the investments in your HSA.
• You may make tax-free withdrawals to pay for qualified health care expenses.
• You own all of the money in your HSA and it is yours to keep — even if you change medical plans.

Learn more about HSAs from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Consider establishing an HSA to maximize the benefits of your high deductible health plan. While you may open an HSA with any institution of your choice, you can establish your account at BNY Mellon with our assistance. You will need to complete a BCBSNE HSA Account Request Form to get the process started.