Whats your opinion on a HSA/HDHP health plan?

VJW, my HSA plan covers everything my regular health plan covered and is just as much protection against a catastrophic event as it was. The differences being $550 a year less in premiums ($745 on the old plan, $195 on the HSA) but a $3000 deductible vs. $1000 on the old plan. Both plans are 80/20 beyond the deductible and have a maximum out of pocket per year of around 5 grand ($5100 for the HSA, I believe the regular health plan was just a smidge more).

I'm putting the difference in premiums into the HSA where it was matched for 2006 100% up to $500 and it's still there when the year is over (so less money going out the window to premiums.) Next year the match increases to $1250 which I will get into the account ASAP.


I still don't understand how conclusive a study can be on something that at the time had only been around for a year but it's obvious you believe the findings and I have no reason to doubt your legitimate concerns so I'll leave that at that.


On the health insurance responsibility becoming the employer's around WWII...I wasn't being sarcastic when I asked, I didn't know that. I had understood that health care as a benefit had become more common around that time and was offered much more frequently but I did not know it had been the responsibility of employers to provide it. Even today health care is an optional benefit with many (most?) employers. Am I confusing the concept of "provide the option" as opposed to "provide the coverage?"

I think I am, that's my fault.

[PrincessPerky]

Ima, you can I bet, you just chose not to..you have plenty of money in that challenge account, plus I know you have other places...

It is your choice, and self insuring is a PIA, but....I would.

[katwoman]

Ima. look into health insurance immediately!

Your husband may be self employed but that doesn't mean he or you should be without coverage.

I know you don't believe in financial planners but in your case you may want to seek someone out to structure an estate/insurance plan. As someone pointed out, you can go from rich to broke REAL FAST over medical issues.

Why don't you pm Sweeps? He's knowledgeable and reliable.

[Ima saver]

We had health insurance for about 15 years. It was $600 a month, total cost $90,000 for not one dime of coverage spent, ever!! We had a $5000 deductible. My husband decided he did not work that hard to give that much money away. Since I have only been to the doctor once in my entire life, we feel pretty safe, if we can just get by, the next 3 years.

[katwoman]

That's a big if.......


You don't get any pap smears? No mammograms? No idea about your HDL, LDL, triglycerides, blood pressure, etc.?

Please, if you don't want the health coverage at least look into the hospitalization portion.

Maybe getting that part time job isn't such a bad idea if all you need is the next three years till you do get coverage. Some part time jobs do provide health coverage.

[sweeps]

I agree with katwoman, Ima. I know health insurance is really expensive, but you should at least get catastrophic coverage. Even a moderately serious health problem or accident could cost you a bundle. Plus you'd be eligible for the hospital's lower negotiated rates if, God forbid, you or your husband would have to go.

[PrincessPerky]

I can understand not wanting it, how about you put the 600 into a self titled 'just in case' insurance account? Not gonna help if you get cancer, but it aught to cover medium work injuries for your husband.

[RJB1180]

I'm sorry but health insurance is one place you con not go "on the cheap". My wife and I are both 25 and under and she was diagnosed with stage IV cancer. so just getting through the next any years is riskier then skydiving without a parachute. I know that in the last 2 years, the insurance company has spent almost $2.5 million, yes I said million, on her bills. We pay almost $5k a year but it is worth it. I know in that same time we have spent almost $3k on prescription co pays, that cost insurance almost $90k. So plese don't skrimp on insurance, it can happen to the best of us

[Ima saver]

I have never worked anywhere full or part time that offers health insurance. There is no where I could go to work that offers it. I do put some money aside for health each week.I have never been sick.

[cicy33]

I used to have a job that offered insurance but now we don't. and I can't afford it. the cheapest I can find for us is $200 a month and that is with a fairly high deductible and no prescription coverage at all. I just don't have $200 extra every month. I wanted to try the HSA plan cuz I rarely go to the doctor and thought that would be good. I could save and use it for medical but you have to already have a plan before you can get the HSA. so I would have to come up with the $200 a month first and then more for the HSA. I really wish we could afford it. My dh has high blood pressure which was diagnosed with our other insurance so now we don't even know if anyone will cover it if we do get insurance. We also make to much to qualify for any help. We are the kind that is stuck in the middle, just enough to stay afloat, not enough to get ahead.

[Ima saver]

The $660 I was paying every month, didn't pay for anything. no doctor bills, medicine, nothing! I wish I could find something for $200 a month, it would probably cost me $1000 a month now even with a $5000 deductible like I had before.

[cicy33]

I went to a local office and looked up basic health care plans. it was through blue cross and blue shield. I am almost 39 and my dh is 30. it had a 35 copay I believe. but isn't it funny, not matter where you are some things you just cannot afford.

[CRFSaver]

So I started thinking about health insurance not so much for me but for my mother, father and sister. I have always managed to get a group health plan from my employers at a reasonable cost. Either way it doesnt take much to use the program. Some of the observations with health insurance:

Do the HSA's have the same ability to negotiate preferable rates with hospitals, doctors and clinics?

I was unemployed and did not elect cobra coverage cause of the cost. I purchased a "temporary" catastophy insurance for litterally 60 bucks a month for 6 months with the option to renew 1 time for 6 months. This was just a stop gap measure but i had it just in case I got hit by a bus. The issue was I went skiing and fell and screwed up my shoulder. I am sure i have some lovely tears I would know about if I had insurance at the time and went to the doctor instead of not being able to lift my arm for two weeks.

The other issue outside of group health plans is the fact that when you purchase it yourself they tend to exclude pre-existing conditions. If you had cancer at one time guess what...
Correct me if I am wrong but health insurance companies are not required to offer you insurance at the individual level. So it is very possible that you might not be able to even get health insurance. You cant be excluded at the group level.

I started a new job and the company screwed up my health insurance application (they lost it along with my dental, stock purchase program, etc). Luckily my boss pushed it and they approved my health insurance. Thankfully they did as I ended up going to the emergency room thinking I had apendicitis. After 1000 bucks in tests it ended up being a swollen and brused rib (have no clue how). I figure I have gotten my money out of that plan.

Given the fact I am covering all the people that end up going to the emergency rooms and dont pay anyways,, throw 5% on top of your fica tax and let everyone have insurance coverage.

I look at my parents. My father is lucklily covered by VA but my mom is self employed and not yet old enough to get medicaire/caide (whichever one it is). Her Cobra runs out in September and insurance will go from 380 bucks a month to 1000 bucks a month plus no coverage for pre-existing conditions. I rather pay the extra 5% per paycheck to ensure my mom is covered.

My sister didnt take a job as they did not have group health, she would have to pay for her own. It would have been a decent job for her but she couldnt afford to not have insurance at the time.

The ability to be an entrepeneur or to consult. A lot of people I met from Canada were able to take consulting assignments cause they didnt have to worry about health insurane. A lot of people (myself included) are scared to try and start a company cause you have to worry about being with out health insurance during the work. Has that held back many an entrepeneur?

I will take my Blue Cross PPO plan at 40 bucks a paycheck over anyday of having to gamble on whether I will ever use it. A great idea for companies would be to offer an option for group health for parents (seperate from normal group health).

[TBH]

Originally Posted by CRFSaver

Do the HSA's have the same ability to negotiate preferable rates with hospitals, doctors and clinics?

No, the whole idea is YOU have to negotiate to keep the costs down. HSA's are supposed to make the patients more aware of/responsible for the cost of their care because they'll put pressure on health care facilities to price things competetively.

The question is, when you're in the emergency room, how are you supposed to do that. You're doubled over in pain, and you manage to say "but the hospital down the street only charges $692 for that test. Can you match their price?" Yeah right.

[sweeps]

Well said, claire. Even in a non-emergency situation, does the average person really have the expertise to decide whether a certain test or procedure should or should not be done, or whether "X" medical procedure is a better buy than "Y" medical procedure? Unlikely.

[34saving]

I think doctors are so regulated by insurance stuff that they don't always do the medically most appropriate things either. Here are some examples of inappropriate tests done lately in our family: $56 pregnancy test to show the same thing the $3 one from Target did (I mean it. They use the same chemicals and everything.) Lead test for dd. (She has ZERO risk factors. Her doctor has been practicing for 30 some odd years and has seen ONE come up high and that one had OBVIOUS risk factors.) Blood type for me. (Do you really think it changed from the last time?) I could go on . . . In the meantime, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion I'm going to die from some sort of circulatory issue (barring a weird accident). So, why are they forcing a pap on me (again, NO risk factors) as often as they can make me come in, yet almost completely ignoring my cholesterol? It's all about what the insurance companies consider "routine or appropriate" or whatever . . .

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by Sweepsplayer

Well said, claire. Even in a non-emergency situation, does the average person really have the expertise to decide whether a certain test or procedure should or should not be done, or whether "X" medical procedure is a better buy than "Y" medical procedure? Unlikely.

But maybe we should be....

Should we just rely on Docs to make all the decisions (with insurances breathing down their backs) or should we take charge of our own lives as much as possible? With the Internet at our fingertips and education cash flaoting around like crazy, whe do we still want 'big brother' to know best and leave us covered?

I prefer to research, and I get a pap when I get pregnant My midwife knows this and is cool with it. (or at least she isn't wasting her breath trying to talk me in any sooner!)

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by rexdart

On the health insurance responsibility becoming the employer's around WWII...I wasn't being sarcastic when I asked, I didn't know that. I had understood that health care as a benefit had become more common around that time and was offered much more frequently but I did not know it had been the responsibility of employers to provide it. Even today health care is an optional benefit with many (most?) employers. Am I confusing the concept of "provide the option" as opposed to "provide the coverage?"

I think I am, that's my fault.

I did some mild searching and came up with no links of WW2 and medical coverage..(as far as why it should be all the govts job)

If anyone has more information (vjw?) I wouldn't mind reading up on why I am not supposed toi be responsible for my own health.

eesh, you guys are gonna make me change sides before this is all over!

in no way do I expect a 30 something computer jockey from middle America to "negotiate" the cost of his physicals, blood tests, ambulance rides or any other procedure you care to name. although that may be a stated (loudly or not) goal of the HSA, it has nothing to do with why I use one.

as I outlined above, I'm still paying for, with my own money, essentially the same things I always have when you consider the deductibles and co-pays up to the OOP max each year. the HSA permits me to do it with untaxed money and in years when I don't use much of it, I keep some of the money that would have disappeared on premiums with the old plan. most of the gap in the deductible is made up by the money placed into the account by my employer.

again, my opinions are based on the choices I have today, not about what I think would work best, and for my needs, the HSA is the smarter choice.

but this concept of me at an auction stand with a bunch of doctors under-bidding one another for the right to stick their finger up my butt is just silly. it's funny to think about though!

no, costs are just as outrageous as they were on my regular health plan and I'm afraid I won't be doing anything to help change them, the doctor says "shut up, sit down, take your clothes off," and I do it.

[sweeps]

Then of course you have people taking medical procedures completely in their own hands:

Link