Health Savings Account Anyone?

[Tony_SS]

Is anyone in on this yet? What's everyone opinion on them? The wife and I are looking in one for our soon to be family of 4 and they sound like a vast improvement over the traditional health care insurance plan.

AFAIK, with the account, you pay a monthly fee or premium and it goes into an account that is your's to keep. So it's really good for healthy people who really end up not using their insurance much, like myself. That is your money and you earn interest on it. Now if you should ever need it, it's there to use for your deductable.

This account is bridged in with your provider to cover 100% preventive care, but you pay for diagnostic services and doctors services out of pocket or your HSA.

It sounds too good to be true and were still looking for a catch.. The wife talks to our provider later this week about it, but so far it sounds like a great program.

[bigvegan]

Hey, CONGRATULATIONS on the new additions!

On HSA's, there aren't too many downsides for the individual, the main being that if you don't use the money for medical expenses, you can't touch it until retirement without paying a 10% penalty. The other is that it basically allows your employer to make you pay for the first $1,000+ a year in deductible expenses for your health insurance.

It's awesome for employers, for employees it can be kind of a wash.

Here are a couple of articles with some more info.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/14/business/yourmoney/14health.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_savings_account#Criticisms

[funbnme]

I have one. Great way to put tax deductible savings away. My company's insurance is a high deductible plan...the first 3k is out of our pocket. So I put enough away to cover that deductible and other medical expenses. By contributing, my company puts in $50 a month too, so between that and the tax savings, it brings my real out of pocket on the deductible down to about 1400.

I haven't found a downside to it. It's not like the older accounts where it was "use it or lose it". Money carries over if you don't spend it all in a calendar year.

[Tony_SS]

Thanks bigvegan - new baby's due in Sept.

I'm self-employed so there's no one that would kick in, it would be a family HSA plan that we are buying direct through BCBS.

I'm pretty excited about it knowing that my insurance premiums will be going into a savings account vs right to my insurance company.

[CarlC]

Our company has one. It's tougher for new employees since the company contribution goes up with more years of service.

For our family of four it has worked out better than pre-HSA, but our family is healthy. If someone required a bunch of yearly medical attention then the yearly maximum out of pocket would hurt, depending on how the company figures out the maximum.

Don't get too excited about the interest on the HSA. It's better than nothing, but with a family of four you likely won't have a lot in there.

[Tony_SS]

Carl, that's what I like about it too. It rewards those who are healthy and require little to no medical services. Luckily me, the wife and son are very healthy and I think the new baby will be too. Sounds like the HSA's benefit families like us. If/when we do need to pay for doctors visits, medication and diagnostic services, that money can come directly out of the HSA that we pay into. And in case of an accident, we are covered through the bridge insurance from BCBS.

[Todds69]

Here is the one we have at work and doesn't charge you any fees.
http://www.americanchartered.com/

[WS6]

For the self employed, they are supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. Congrats on the new addition Tony.

[Patrick]

This is my second year in the HSA. I think that they are a great solution to the ever increasing health care premiums. I chose the "Max HSA" which is a large deductible plan. Essentially the plan pays nothing until I reach my deductible. However, I got clowned early in the year with a hospital visit. My account did not have time to build its reserve-- so I had to come out of pocket a couple of grand.