Empower Retirement, Optum Launch Innovative, Integrated HSA Solution for Retirement Plan Participants

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., March 28 -- UnitedHealth Group issued the following news release:

Today Empower Retirement, the nation's second-largest retirement plan provider, and health services leader Optum launched an innovative health savings account (HSA) for retirement plan participants - The Empower Health Savings Account.

The Empower Health Savings Account will provide plan participants access to an online financial-planning solution that integrates retirement and health care savings, helping participants prepare for health care expenses now and into retirement. The Empower-Optum solution will provide a single investment lineup across products, access to investment advisors and retirement planning tools and resources, including health plan selection and enrollment, retirement plan management, inclusion of wellness programs and health savings account management. This solution brings together an individual's health and retirement portfolio to help them better plan for health care costs and maximize their savings across tax-advantaged programs.

The Empower HSA plan will enable participants to identify the gaps in their retirement plan and develop a strategy to take action. Optum and Empower's technology and planning tools integrate the HSA and the retirement plans to provide analysis and forecasting of the participant's retirement preparedness.

"Health care in retirement can be a considerable expense and one that makes retirement planning more challenging. The Empower Health Savings Account can help people prepare for that challenge," said Edmund F. Murphy III, president of Empower Retirement. "In this exclusive collaboration with Optum, the nation's largest HSA provider, we're taking retirement health care planning and saving to the next level."

"This new HSA offering can help consumers create affordability today as well as in retirement," said Deborah Culhane, senior vice president of Optum. "Our collaboration with Empower enables us to deliver the tools and experiences that our customers want and need to make the best use of their health care savings."

The Empower participant website helps people better understand their future savings needs. The site's design and functionality is based on years of analyzing factors that drive participant behavior. Empower data shows that participants in defined-contribution retirement plans tend to take action when offered personalized tools and information to help them understand specific factors relating to their retirement preparedness.

Through the Empower HSA, employers will gain a way to help their employees plan for the future. Participants will have access to aggregated retirement readiness information, including the retirement plan and health savings account data. Employers will also benefit from streamlined administration through a dedicated partner, and integrated tools and services.

Murphy noted that Empower was the first retirement plan provider to offer plan participants the ability to project their health care expenses in retirement through the company's Health Cost Estimator and is continuing that strategy by introducing a solution that helps people understand how their health affects their wealth.

About OPTUM:

Optum is a leading information and technology-enabled health services business dedicated to helping make the health system work better for everyone. With more than 100,000 people worldwide, Optum delivers intelligent, integrated solutions that help to modernize the health system and improve overall population health. Optum is part of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH).

About EMPOWER RETIREMENT:

Headquartered in metro Denver, Empower Retirement administers $475 billion in assets for 8.2 million participants. It is the nation's second-largest retirement plan recordkeeper by total participants (Pensions & Investments, April 2016). Empower serves all segments of the employer-sponsored retirement plan market: government 457 plans, small, midsize, and large corporate 401(k) clients, non-profit 403(b) entities and private-label recordkeeping clients. For more information, please visit www.Empower-Retirement.com.

About HSAs:

An HSA is a medical savings account available to taxpayers who are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan. When used for qualified medical expenses, the funds within an account are not subject to federal income tax. HSA funds roll over and accumulate year to year and are owned by the participant. Unlike a flexible savings account that's used for spend-as-you-go expenses, an HSA is designed to help workers save additional funds for healthcare needs in retirement.

[Category: HealthRX]

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