OT: People with HMO's...anyone know anything about HSA's???

[Wilbo26]

My company is offering these now, they appear to be some type of healthcare savings account. It claims to give me more control over my health care plan, but I'm a little skeptical, and the only information we've been given is straight from the health care company, who probably wouldn't be to keen to point out possible pitfalls of the plan.

 

Anyone have any knowledge/experience with these?

[AcousticControl]

all depends on your needs.

if you have kids and they need stuff that's NOT covered under your health plan (orthodontia, even day care sometimes) or if you use health care stuff that's not covered by your plan but IS considered cool under the HSA, it's a no-brainer.

because the money in your HSA is pre-tax dollars, you save big time.

the only way you lose is if you don't spend it all, so calculate your needs carefully.

[Wilbo26]

Hmm, thanks for the info.

I've talked to a few people at work, and what this looks like is the company paying less and us paying more no matter what.

Even after a record year profit wise.

And they cancelled our Christms bar tab to donate cash to Katrina, meaning the firm gets a nice fat tax write-off that won't get passed down to us.

[AcousticControl]

feel free to pm/email me if you want more info. i'm no expert, but i did used to work in the healthcare field.

[UncleDig]

Search Google for HSA's, or better yet, "consumer driven healthcare" to find some basics. I work for a service bureau who serves healthcare cos (and other industries), and part of what we do enables HSA's.

As delorean says, it's down to what you need. HSA's are typically associated with high deductible health plans - ie - you pay for much more of the healthcare svcs you use with your own, pre-tax dollars (and the money that your company matches into your HSA account). You have much more flexibility with which doctors/hospitals/service providers you use. There are some administrative advantages too, sometimes. Like, some plans give you a credit or debit card that you can use when you pay for services, which makes the tax reporting much easier at the end of the year.

They seem to be catching on with the large commercial insurance companies. Part of the plan to drive competition into the healthcare market. We'll see if it works

[bucket_brigadier]

Originally posted by Wilbo26 I've talked to a few people at work, and what this looks like is the company paying less and us paying more no matter what.

 

 

yes, that's right. it's a tax exempt account to make it easier for you to pick up the tabs that your employer/insurance carrier used to.