Fidelity Investments introduced a health savings account Monday that it says will play a role in individual investors' retirement planning as well as supplementing its benefit program offering to corporate outsourcing customers.
The product can help employers to mitigate health benefits costs and employees to save for medical costs in retirement, Fidelity said. Health savings accounts complement high-deductible health plans that are cheaper for employers to offer. Employees can pay medical expenses not covered by the health plan with tax-free money from their HSAs.
Fidelity said it is offering its product for companies making benefit-plan design decisions next year for use by employees beginning Jan. 1, 2007. The company will offer employers help with health plan selection, record keeping, access to Fidelity funds as investment options for HSA funds, and Web and call-center support.
The HSA will mesh with the suite of Fidelity retirement planning tools. "Escalating costs, an aging work force, and the elimination of retiree medical programs are marketplace trends requiring employers to seek alternative health benefits management options," Kirk Arnold, an executive vice president of Fidelity Human Resources Services Co., said in a statement.
