My wife previously had our family HSA through her employer but we decided I would enroll in my employers HSA this year, as the benefits and company contribution was much better.
Since it is technically an individual account, what can we do with hers? It was run through Optum Bank and don't really want to keep it there since fees are high and there aren't many options.
However, since she is not longer enrolled in the HDHP, can we still transfer to another broker like Fidelity? We just cannot contribute to it?
Posted by TDn6I
3 Comments
Roll it over to fidelity and invest it
> However, since she is not longer enrolled in the HDHP, can we still transfer to another broker like Fidelity? We just cannot contribute to it?
If she’s covered by your hdhp, she can still contribute (so long as your aggregate contributions don’t exceed the family limit), but if you can do payroll contributions that’s better since it also dodges fica taxes
You can move it to Fidelity and either invest/let it grow, or use it for eligible expenses over the next few years until it runs out.
She does not have to be the primary individual of an HDHP to contribute into an HSA, just be *covered* by an HDHP (and nothing else). Assuming your job’s HDHP is a family plan including her, then she can put up to $8750 into an HSA in her name during 2026. That’s not the most optimal way to do things, since that family limit is shared by you + her, payroll contributions are the most tax-efficient way to make HSA contributions, and it’s extremely unlikely (though I believe not technically impossible) that her employer’s payroll system will do those when she’s not in their medical plan.
She can certainly rollover her existing balance to another HSA provider, and Fidelity has a lot of benefits: no fee, easy investment, good fund selection. This rollover does not count against her/your contribution limit for the year or need to be matched against medical expenses. Her insurance situation is irrelevant to her ability to do a rollover. It’s just shifting the dollars from one place to another without “really” moving it out of the overall HSA umbrella. Optum will very likely charge a transfer/closure fee (though hopefully not both) to move the money directly to Fidelity. There’s the option to do an “indirect HSA rollover” that would bypass that fee, but comes with some extra hoops to jump through.
Her balance can also simply be spent down, whether at Optum or another provider, on medical expenses incurred by her, you, or (if applicable) any of your kids. Spending from an HSA can be done under any plan, even if it’s not an HDHP.