Health Insurance

[Uncle Gump]

When I worked in cooperate America... there was no employer match... nothing rolled over. I opted out of it. Self employment is an entirely different game. If premium costs could be tax free dollars... sign me up! Of course... it would have to roll over also or I wouldn't contribute any more then the premiums. That's probably asking to much of any company involved in the health care industry though.

I sure hope something gets done about this soon.

 

[adsm08]

I'm really on the fence on HSAs. I think certain ones have their place (employer match, etc) but many are a fixed amount, don't roll over, and the tax savings are really close to zero. My fiance's HSA is like that, $2000/year, half of which is provided by her employer which is kinda nice but it expires at the end of every year.

I kinda feel like a better option is simply a savings account... some of those HSAs market themselves as the best thing ever but in reality they just charge you to park your money somewhere and keep it if you don't use it. Not a good deal.

That's also a fair assessment. When looking for one by yourself it's easier to shop for a good one.

We have a young kid where I work, like 20 years old, his parents kicked him off their health insurance (one of the few things they did right with parenting) and he was shopping for insurance. Our health insurance is kind of expensive, and really not that great. Since he is in good health and a really big cheapskate I told him to just get a catastrophic hospitalization plan and put the difference in premiums between that and our group plan back into savings each month and just pay doctors visits and such out of that.

In his case it also helps that the disability/life insurance group plan we have available will reimburse you for up to two regular check ups, one physical, and two dental checkups/cleanings a year.

 

[ford4wd08]

I'm really on the fence on HSAs. I think certain ones have their place (employer match, etc) but many are a fixed amount, don't roll over, and the tax savings are really close to zero. My fiance's HSA is like that, $2000/year, half of which is provided by her employer which is kinda nice but it expires at the end of every year.

I kinda feel like a better option is simply a savings account... some of those HSAs market themselves as the best thing ever but in reality they just charge you to park your money somewhere and keep it if you don't use it. Not a good deal.

Don't confuse a HSA with a FSA.

The Flexible Spending Account (FSA) is where you (pre tax) and your employer can contribute money to it annually, but you must use all funds by the end of the calendar year (used to be March 31st of the following year I believe). The only positive thing I have seen in you get the money you allocate to the FSA up front when it is done through an employer (If you say you will contribute $1,000 for the year, you get that $1,000 in January and make payments towards it all year). FSA is usually comes with a co-pay type health insurance plan.

The Health Spending Account (HSA) is one you (pre tax) and your employer can contribute to and it never expires. Will always roll over. There are individual HSA's out there too. HSA usually comes with a high deductible health plan option. You have to build up funds in a HSA, no advance for the year on what you will contribute.

My employer offers good health insurance and offers a co-pay type plan and a high deductible plan. If you chose the high deductible plan, they will give you two deposits a year into the HSA.

I chose the HSA for me and my wife and put the difference that I saved from the co-pay type as a deposit into my HSA bi-weekly. Good thing about an HSA is you can carry it all the way to retirement, and then access it tax free. That is my plan, we ended up using more of it last year than I wanted, but I just upped my contribution this year. My goal is to get where I can contribute the max amount allowed by the IRS a year and keep rolling it over to retirement. You can also use it as an investment account once it reaches certain values.

That is part of my planning for retirement anyhow.....

 

[RyanaHunter]

It's good that you're looking into shopping around for a better plan. That's the way to go. The state plan might not be the best fit for you anymore, and there are a ton of other options out there. Have you checked out http://www.thefinitygroup.com yet ? They've got a bunch of different plans to choose from, and their website is pretty easy to navigate. Plus, they've got a handy-dandy calculator that can help you figure out what kind of coverage you need. And the best part? You don't have to wait until January to get coverage. They've got plans that can start as early as next month!