Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) for Active Employees and Retirees
The HSA part of Consumer Directed HealthSelectSM helps you save money so you’re prepared for out-of-pocket health expenses. It also helps you lower your income taxes, because you can save up to a certain amount tax-free each year. Every Consumer Directed HealthSelect participant who is eligible to open an HSA should open one with Optum Bank. HSAs are like tax-free nest eggs for health care expenses. (Note: Before enrolling in Consumer Directed HealthSelect, you should view the question Who can enroll in an HSA? in the HSA FAQs to learn if you’re eligible for an HSA.)
- Eligible employees and retirees who are enrolled in Consumer Directed HealthSelect and open an Optum Bank HSA will get a monthly contribution from the State of Texas. The table below includes the amount the state currently contributes.
- You can use your HSA on qualified expenses, even if you change to a different health plan or change employers. The money stays with you.
- You can make and/or get tax-free contributions to your HSA—up to a certain amount set by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) each year.
- If you’re an active employee, you can sign into your ERS OnLine account or work with your benefits coordinator to have pre-tax contributions taken from your paycheck. (Please make sure your contributions plus any made by the State of Texas or someone else don’t go over the annual maximum set by the IRS.)
- You can also make post-tax contributions directly to your account, and claim the contributions later on your tax return.
- You have access only to the money that’s actually in your HSA. You won’t have access to any money that’s been pledged to be deposited in the future.
- Any unused money in your HSA will carry over from one year to the next, so you won’t lose money in your account at the end of the year.
- If you contribute to an HSA, you can’t participate in a health care flexible spending account (FSA), like the one offered through TexFlexSM. If you’re an active employee, you can enroll in a special type of TexFlex account called a limited-purpose FSA and use the account for qualified vision and dental expenses.
Visit the website for Optum Bank, administrator of Consumer Directed HealthSelect HSAs.
HSA Contributions and Limits
| Description | 2024 Individual account |
2024 Family account |
2025 Individual account |
2025 Family account |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual maximum contribution (calendar year, Jan. 1 - Dec. 31) |
$4,150 | $8,300 | $4,300 | $8,550 |
| Annual state contribution (plan year, Sept. 1 - Aug. 31) |
$540 ($45 monthly) |
$1,080 ($90 monthly) |
$540 ($45 monthly) |
$1,080 ($90 monthly) |
| Annual maximum participant contribution | $3,610 | $7,220 | $3,760 | $7,470 |
NOTES:
Family account includes the member and one or more dependents enrolled in Consumer Directed HealthSelect.
Members who are 55 years or older can have an additional "catch-up" contribution of up to $1,000 per year.
HSA contributions and limits may change from year to year, or based on eligibility requirements and the participant’s age. Maximums are set by the IRS and include all contributions—both pre-tax and post-tax—to an HSA.