Medical savings accounts with investment and loan-account access
View Patent ↗Methods and systems are disclosed for managing a medical savings account that invests funds in investment accounts. A request is received for payment of a healthcare expense incurred by a party authorized for recovery under the medical savings account. A balance is drawn against a line of credit secured by one or more of the investment accounts. At least a portion of the healthcare expense is paid with funds obtained from the drawn balance. At least a portion of some of the investment accounts are liquidated in accordance with instructions provided by the party or by an owner of the medical savings account to satisfy the drawn balance of the line of credit.
1. A method of managing a medical savings account, the medical savings account comprising funds invested in each of a plurality of investment accounts, the method comprising:
receiving with a computer system a request for payment of a healthcare expense incurred by a party authorized for recovery under the medical savings account;
Initiating by the computer drawing a balance against a line of credit secured by one or more of the investment accounts;
Initiating by the computer paying at least a portion of the healthcare expense with funds obtained from the drawn balance;
Initiating by the computer liquidating at least a portion of some of the investment accounts in accordance with instructions provided by the party or by an owner of the medical savings account to satisfy the drawn balance of the line of credit, wherein liquidating the at least a portion of some of the investment accounts comprises liquidating an amount that exceeds the drawn balance; and
initiating, with the computer system, investment of an excess of the amount over the drawn balance in accordance with predefined investment instructions.
2. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the instructions provided by the party or by the owner of the medical savings account comprise predefined instructions provided prior to receiving the request, whereby liquidating the at least a portion of some of the investment accounts comprises an automatic liquidation.
3. The method recited in claim 2 wherein the predefined instructions specify an order of the investment accounts for liquidation.
4. The method recited in claim 2 wherein the predefined instructions specify relative percentages of the investment accounts for liquidation.
5. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the instructions provided by the party or by the owner of the medical savings account comprise a manual specification of instructions provided by the party or by the owner of the medical savings account after paying the healthcare expense.
6. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the medical savings account further comprises a cash account, the method further comprising paying a second portion of the healthcare expense with funds comprised by the cash account prior to drawing the balance against the line of credit.
7. The method recited in claim 6 wherein: drawing the balance against the line of credit comprises depositing the drawn balance into the cash account; and paying the at least a portion of the healthcare expense and paying the second portion of the healthcare expense comprises making a single payment of the entire healthcare expense from the cash account.
8. The method recited in claim 6 wherein liquidating the at least a portion of some of the investment accounts comprises liquidating an amount that exceeds the drawn balance, the method further comprising depositing an excess of the amount over the drawn balance into the cash account.
9. The method recited in claim 1 wherein receiving the request for payment of the healthcare expense comprises receiving a debit transaction request over a network from a point of sale, the debit transaction request comprising an identification of the medical savings account and an identification of an amount for the healthcare expense.
10. The method recited in claim 9 wherein the debit transaction request further comprises an identification of a card associated with the medical savings account.
11. The method recited in claim 9 wherein the debit transaction request further comprises an identification of a check associated with the medical savings account.
12. The method recited in claim 1 wherein the party is the owner of the medical savings account.
13. A system for managing a medical savings account, the medical savings account comprising funds invested in each of a plurality of investment accounts, the system comprising:
a communications system;
a storage device;
a processor in communication with the communications system and with the storage device; and a memory coupled with the processor, the memory comprising a computer-readable medium having a computer-readable program embodied therein for directing operation of the system, the computer-readable program including:
instructions for receiving a request with the communications system, the request comprising a request for payment of a healthcare expense incurred by a party authorized for recovery under the medical savings account;
instructions for drawing a balance against a line of credit secured by one or more of the investment accounts by transmitting a line-of-credit instruction using the communications system to a financial institution administering the line of credit;
instructions for paying the healthcare expense with funds obtained from the drawn balance;
instructions for liquidating at least a portion of some of the investment accounts in accordance with instructions provided by the party or by an owner of the medical savings account to satisfy the drawn balance of the line of credit by transmitting a liquidation instruction using the communications system to a financial institution administering the some of the investment accounts, the instructions for liquidating at least a portion of some of the investment accounts comprising instructions for liquidating an amount that exceeds the drawn balance;
instructions for initiating investment of an excess of the amount over the drawn balance in accordance with predefined investment instructions.
14. The system recited in claim 13 wherein the instructions provided by the party or by the owner of the medical savings account comprise predefined instructions provided prior to executing the instructions for receiving the request, whereby liquidating the at least a portion of some of the investment accounts comprises an automatic liquidation.
15. The system recited in claim 14 wherein the predefined instructions specify an order of the investment accounts for liquidation.
16. The system recited in claim 14 wherein the predefined instructions specify relative percentages of the investment accounts for liquidation.
17. The system recited in claim 13 wherein the instructions provided by the party or by the owner of the medical savings account comprise a manual specification of instructions provided by the party or by the owner of the medical savings account after executing the instructions for paying the healthcare expense.
18. The system recited in claim 13 wherein:
the medical savings account further comprises a cash account; and
the computer-readable program further comprises instructions for paying a second portion of the healthcare expense with funds comprised by the cash account prior to drawing the balance against the line of credit.
19. The system recited in claim 18 wherein:
the instructions for drawing the balance against the line of credit comprise instructions for depositing the drawn balance into the cash account; and
the instructions for paying the at least a portion of the healthcare expense and the instructions for paying the second portion of the healthcare expense comprise instructions to make a single payment of the entire healthcare expense from the cash account.
20. The system recited in claim 18 wherein:
the instructions for liquidating at least a portion of some of the investment accounts comprise instructions for liquidating an amount that exceeds the drawn balance; and
the computer-readable program further includes instructions for depositing an excess of the amount over the drawn balance into the cash account.
21. The system recited in claim 13 wherein the computer-readable program further includes:
instructions for receiving a contribution to the medical savings account; and
instructions for investing the contribution in at least some of the plurality of investment accounts in accordance with the predefined investment instructions provided by the owner of the medical savings account.
22. The system recited in claim 13 wherein the instructions for receiving the request comprise instructions for receiving a debit transaction request over a network from a point of sale, the debit transaction request comprising an identification of the medical savings account and an identification of an amount of the healthcare expense.
23. The system recited in claim 22 wherein the debit transaction request further comprises an identification of a card associated with the medical savings account.