HSA Contribution Calculator and Spanish Translation Added to PLANselect Benefits Decision-Support Tools

    BOSTON, MA, August 21, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Flimp Communications, a leading developer of engaging employee videos and benefits decision support tools for open enrollment communications, announced the inclusion of a Spanish language option and HSA contribution calculator tool within the popular PLANselect benefits decision-support software. The PLANselect tools provide employers with an affordable, engaging alternative to costly "avatar" based decision support products. These tools are best used for helping employees and spouses choose the optimal employer-sponsored health plan for their circumstances, especially when offering HDHP and CDHP plans with HSA or HRA options for tax savings.

The new Spanish language option and HSA Calculator tools are included in the PLANselect annual pricing, which for companies under 10,000 eligible employees is $3.00 PEPY plus an annual license fee. The product was developed by a physician-led team of healthcare and benefits experts. To demo the PLANselect decision tool and watch the overview video, visit the demo site here.

As companies prepare for the 2018 benefits open enrollment season, more HDHPs (high-deductible health plans) are being added to core medical plan offerings. Since tax exempt HSAs (health savings accounts) are often offered together with HDHPs, employees need access to a tool that will help them calculate the optimal HSA payroll contribution amounts to cover out-of-pocket (OOP) costs, maximize tax savings or take advantage of available employer contributions. That's why the HSAdvantage tools were developed and added to the PLANselect product. The HSAdvantage tools will also be offered to employers on a standalone basis for the upcoming enrollment season.

For HDHP plan options that include HSAs, employers now have the option to give employees access to calculator tools that will help optimize their HSA contributions. Starting with the annual estimated out-of-pocket expenses derived by the PLANselect algorithm, the HSAdvantage tool requires only a few additional bits of information; whether the user is 55 or over, what their state and federal tax rates are, and HSA employer contributions, if any, to access contribution calculations. The suggested contribution is then broken down by how much it would cost the user per paycheck based on pay cycle and what the tax savings for each would be.

"Communicating benefits plan options effectively in Spanish can be a challenge for employers with significant Spanish speaking populations," says Wayne Wall, CEO of Flimp Media. "It's also very expensive and time consuming to do with avatar cartoon type products that take 30 to 40 minutes for employees to complete. With PLANselect, employees can quickly toggle between English and Spanish and the whole decision-making process takes only 3 to 4 minutes." The new HSAdvantage module is also available in Spanish.

About Flimp Media and Flimp Communications
Flimp Media, Inc., is a video and multimedia communications company with offices in Boston, MA, Denver, CO, and Manchester, UK. Flimp Communications, a division of Flimp Media, provides employee benefits videos and communication solutions to employers, benefits brokers, insurance carriers and healthcare providers. Our customers include many Fortune 500 companies, SMBs, technology startups, healthcare and financial services companies, universities and nonprofits. Our award-winning FLIMP content-communications platform enables users to create, distribute and track interactive video and branded multimedia content without any programming or IT resources for corporate, internal and marketing communications. For more information, please visit flimp.net and flimpcommunications.net.

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