Metavante's MBI Benefits Card Enhanced

Also, qualified healthcare transactions can be immediately split between benefit accounts as consumers reach their HRA maximums, because Metavante can stack multiple benefit accounts on one card.

As part of the advent of consumer-directed healthcare (CDHC), HRAs allow employers to provide employees and their family members with “first-dollar” coverage for medical expenses not covered by their health plan, which can include deductible payments associated with Health Savings Account-compatible high-deductible health plans (HDHP). IRS rules dictate when HRA funds can be used for this purpose.

“By providing healthcare consumers with the convenience of accessing HRA funds with a debit card, authorizing and tracking the spending in real time, and splitting the transactions between other benefit accounts on-the-spot, Metavante makes participation in consumer-directed healthcare easier and more attractive for both the employer and employee,” said John M. Reynolds, president, Metavante Healthcare Payment Solutions. “As we enable consumers to move beyond out-of-pocket spending and submitting paper claims against their HRA, we’re also providing employers with solutions that ease the transition to consumer-directed healthcare for their employees and facilitate more control over healthcare dollars in this new environment.”

HRAs allow employers to control what the funds are used for, who has access to money and when the funds are available. Additionally, the employer determines whether HRA funds can be carried over year to year and they can retain HRA money when an employee leaves.

Metavante supports individual and family HRA maximums, which coexist in the same fashion as individual and family deductibles on a health plan. When an HRA extends to an employee’s family, the employer assigns each individual family member an HRA spending limit subject to a family HRA dollar maximum. As soon as any combination of family members’ healthcare spending meets the family’s HRA maximum, the entire family has reached the maximum, and no further HRA funds may be disbursed for any family member. Consequently, real-time tracking of individual spending against the family maximum is of vital importance to employers looking to offer these special types of HRAs through the convenience of a debit card.

Allowing for dependent cards, each with unique card numbers and names, Metavante Healthcare Payment Solutions authorizes purchases against the appropriate family member’s individual HRA maximum, while simultaneously tracking against the family’s HRA maximum in real time. Consumers don’t need to track where they are against a family maximum, because it’s all done by Metavante in real time. Additionally, Metavante supports online account access, where employers enable employees to view up-to-the-minute status reports on individual and family HRA maximums.