Health Savings
Health savings accounts (HSAs) are tax-advantaged accounts designed to help individuals save and pay for qualified medical expenses.
Given a top level understanding of First Dollar's domain objects provided in the Health Wallet Introduction and Terminology, the following section will take you through the steps required to setup your HSA benefit, add it to organizations, and then enroll individuals.
Getting the HSA benefit template ID
One prerequisite to setup your HSA plan is to fetch the HSA benefit template ID. This can be done using the benefitsTemplate query. This will return an array of benefit templates, and you can find the HSA benefit template ID by finding the object with the type property of HSA.
query BenefitTemplates {
benefitTemplates {
... on BenefitTemplatesResults {
nodes {
id
name
description
type
configuration {
funding {
limits {
individual {
currency
lowestDenominationAmount
amount
display
}
}
initialFunding {
individual {
currency
lowestDenominationAmount
amount
display
}
}
}
}
}
pageInfo {
hasNextPage
endCursor
}
}
}
}
While we are specifically focused on the HSA in this guide, First Dollar is architected this way to allow for maximum flexibility in composing a benefit design across all benefit account types, and even allowing partners to create their own templates to create new types of lifestyle and wellness spending accounts.
Create Organizations
Next, use the createOrganization API to create an employer in our system. This allows you to create unique benefit programs per employer, and enroll employees in those programs as appropriate.
mutation CreateOrganization($input: CreateOrganizationInput!) {
createOrganization(input: $input) {
... on CreateOrganizationResult {
organization {
id
name
}
}
... on BadRequestError {
code
message
}
... on InternalServerError {
code
message
}
}
}
Create a Benefits Program
For each organization, you can then create a top level benefits program using the createBenefitsProgram API. A Benefits Program groups multiple Benefits together, enabling all of them to operate against a single Card, and defines shared settings that control Payment and Operational concerns for the grouped benefits.
mutation CreateBenefitsProgram($input: CreateBenefitsProgramInput!) {
createBenefitsProgram(input: $input) {
... on CreateBenefitsProgramResult {
benefitsProgram {
id
name
organizationId
benefits {
id
name
description
type
}
}
}
... on BadRequestError {
code
message
}
... on InternalServerError {
code
message
}
}
}
Create a Benefit
Then, use the createBenefit API to add the HSA to the benefit program for the organization. This call is where you will use the HSA benefit template ID.
mutation CreateBenefit($input: CreateBenefitInput!) {
createBenefit(input: $input) {
... on CreateBenefitResult {
benefit {
id
name
description
type
}
}
... on BadRequestError {
code
message
}
... on InternalServerError {
code
message
}
}
}
You can also set parameters such as the start date the HSA will begin. This way, you can set up and enroll individuals in the benefit weeks ahead of the start date, and individuals will not be able to access their accounts or receive card or marketing communications until the start date.
Create Individuals
Next, you'll create all individuals that need to be enrolled in these benefits. This can be done using the createIndividual API - call this API for each individual who should be enrolled in the benefit.
mutation CreateIndividual($input: CreateIndividualInput!) {
createIndividual(input: $input) {
... on CreateIndividualResult {
individual {
... on Individual {
id
}
}
}
}
}
Required Data for Individual Enrollment
First Dollar's philosophy on data collection is to collect the minimal amount of data required to administer accounts for our users while maintaining compliance. Clients of First Dollar's API should provide the maximum amount of data the client system has available for an individual.
The following data is required for all individuals being added to an HSA benefit:
- First and Last Name
- Physical Address (required for card carriers, mail, used for KYC, etc.)
- Date of Birth
- SSN
The following data is optional for all users:
- Mailing address (physical address will be used if unspecified)
- Phone number
- Email address
Note, if an email address is provided for a user, the email address must be globally unique (must not correspond to an existing user). If the provided email address is already in use, the request will be rejected as invalid.
Verify the Individual
Some Benefits require account holders to pass a Customer Identification Program (CIP/KYC) prior to allowing enrollment. The HSA Benefit requires Customer Verification before enrollment is allowed. Verification requires valid name, address, date of birth, and social security number, and will fail if any are missing or are invalid. If the user does not pass CIP/KYC checks, a status and corresponding verification codes will be available on the response.
Use the verifyIndividual API to verify your Individuals prior to enrolling them in the HSA Benefit.
mutation VerifyIndividual($input: VerifyIndividualInput!) {
verifyIndividual(input: $input) {
... on VerifyIndividualResult {
individual {
id
}
verification {
id
status
verificationCodes
}
}
... on BadRequestError {
code
message
}
... on InternalServerError {
code
message
}
}
}
When this API is called, First Dollar will run KYC checks on the individual. If the individual does not pass KYC, partners can use First Dollar's Health Wallet Manager application to upload supporting evidence and manually approve KYC cases, which will then be propagated to the individual user record. Enrollment can occur after verification is approved, either automatically or via a manual approval process available in the Health Wallet Manager application.
Enroll the Individuals in a Benefits Program
Finally, use the enrollIndividualInBenefit API to enroll these individual into the benefits program that was also created earlier.
mutation EnrollIndividualInBenefit($input: EnrollIndividualInBenefitInput!) {
enrollIndividualInBenefit(input: $input) {
... on EnrollIndividualInBenefitResult {
individual {
id
}
benefit {
id
}
}
... on BadRequestError {
code
message
}
... on InternalServerError {
code
message
}
}
}
This API call will also queue the process to send a card and marketing communications to the individual, but only on the specified start date of the benefits program.
Making changes
All of the APIs cited above have complimentary APIs to update and make changes to benefits programs, organizations, and individuals. See our full API reference for additional endpoints that you can use to manage changes to an organization's benefits.
There is also an unenrollIndividualFromBenefit API to unenroll individuals from benefits as needed.
mutation UnenrollIndividualFromBenefit($input: UnenrollIndividualFromBenefitInput!) {
unenrollIndividualFromBenefit(input: $input) {
... on UnenrollIndividualFromBenefitResult {
individual {
id
}
benefit {
id
}
}
}
}