HBAs, or Health Barter Accounts, May Reduce Out-of-Pocket Costs

Wait, is this a misprint? Shouldn’t the title say HSAs? Or maybe HRAs?

Nope. An HBA is what MediBarter calls an employee account. When a business becomes a member of the MediBarter network they get free sub accounts for their employees. The business can allocate trade dollars to these sub accounts enabling employees to use the credit for any type of healthcare. Hence, the term Health Barter Account.

So, an employer can distribute trade dollars to their employees. Anything else to report? Yes. While this sounds like a nice gesture, there is more strategy to discuss. That’s because these trade dollars can offset out-of-pocket costs, creating a direct savings for employees. Even more exciting, trade credit can be used instead of cash in an HSA. Now we’re talking about real money.

This means cash can be left untouched in the HSA generating a dollar for dollar cash savings. HSA funds can be conserved and left to grow tax free for other healthcare needs.

With health insurance deductibles going up every year, more financial burden is heaped on the employee. When the employer allocates trade credit generated through barter trade on MediBarter, it’s really throwing employees a financial lifeline. That’s the purpose of an HBA, not to be confused with an HSA.