Health Insurance - HSA

[RiverDuck]

My wife's health insurance through her company went up and I was looking at purchasing our family some new health insurance. I have read up on getting a policy with an HSA feature (health savings account). Can ayone here who knows more about this shed some light on the benefits, positives/negatives of going this route...?

[Bourbon]

We have an HSA through work and I like it. You can pay for a lot of things out of it without coming directly out of pocket. Plus it can build and rollover every year. Also, can be a another retirement account, especially for the later years.

Company contributes to the account to help defray the cost of my family premium.

[Hays Creek]

I spent a bunch of time on this a few months ago. It's a great deal if you don't care what doctors you go to, or if your current doctors are in network. I couldn't find any that covered all the doctors our company uses so we ended up staying with BCBS, which is expensive for bad coverage.

[Ster]

My wife's health insurance through her company went up and I was looking at purchasing our family some new health insurance. I have read up on getting a policy with an HSA feature (health savings account). Can ayone here who knows more about this shed some light on the benefits, positives/negatives of going this route...?

Honestly, if everyone went to a high deductible health insurance plan coupled with HSA's then healthcare would be a lot more affordable. One of the main problems with health insurance today is that it makes all of us bad consumers. If everyone was paying out of HSA's for all of their wellness and checkup visits etc... we would all be more involved with our healthcare options and cost.

Unfortunately, Obamacare has brought into question the future of these HSA's.

[RiverDuck]

Can someone explain how they work exactly. Say your premium is $400/mo. What portion of that goes into the "savings account"? Also, is this tax deductible?

[cbakerf81]

just look it up on internet and get instant prices you pick how much to contribute, deductible,and type. I pay 180 a month 50 of it going to savings account. Some risk invovled because u have to pay deductible out of pocket until u build up savings account.

[7ducks]

My HSA is thru my bank (Trustmark)/ Our family has been using one since 2003.
Basics of HSA accounts:

Contributions to an HSA are tax-deductible. Earnings, such as interest and dividends, in the health savings account are tax-exempt at the federal level. Withdrawals from a health savings account are tax-free as long as the funds are used for qualified medical expenses.
HSA Contribution Limits:

•For 2012: $3,100 maximum contribution for individual coverage; and $6,250 for family coverage. $1,000 for additional catch-up contributions for people age 55 or older.

Trustmark HSA :
Account balances automatically roll from year to year.
•Minimum opening balance: $100
•One-time set-up fee of $20
•$4 monthly service charge waived with a minimum balance of $1,000 or more
•5 free checks per month ($1 per check written over 5 per statement period); unlimited debit card access
•Interest earned on daily minimum balance of $1,000 or more
•Sole ownership only
•Monthly imaged statement

[matador1]

Check with trey on here. He can give you some info I'm sure.

[bhuggins]

Can someone explain how they work exactly. Say your premium is $400/mo. What portion of that goes into the "savings account"? Also, is this tax deductible?

The premium goes to the insurance company. You still have to save and directly deposit into the HSA. At least that is how ours works. I'm sure there are plans that split it out for you.

For example - Your current plan costs $900/month for a family of 4 with no deductible and minimum co-pay, etc. You would then go to a high-deductible plan with a deductible of say $3000-5000 dollars. Your new premium would be around $400/month with the high deductible. You would then need to save at least the amount of the deductible into the HSA. As has been said before, for a family you can put $6250 a year into the account tax-deferred. This money can earn interest or be invested into mutual funds to continue to grow.

Bottom line - if you or someone in your family goes to the doctor often or has many medical expenses, you are probably going to come out the same either way. But if you rarely have to go to the doctor and use less than the deductible it's a definite savings. It's also a great place to save $6K a year that is tax-deferred if you are trying to lower your income for tax purposes.