The Strib's article on the pitfalls of Health Savings Accounts

[Lydia Leftcoast]

Josh Gruber is, in his words, "as aggressive and persistent as any consumer" when it comes to his health care.

When he needed a colonoscopy, he called his hospital first for a price estimate. He buys prescription drugs from Canada at half-price. The trim 63-year-old doesn't smoke.

So health savings accounts (HSAs), introduced in 2004, immediately held appeal. To rein in costs, pre-tax HSA dollars are used to pay high deductibles in insurance plans with low premiums.

The intent was to put the onus on people such as Gruber, who lives in St. Louis Park, to shop wisely for care. But his experience is a cautionary tale for those considering the new plans.

http://www.startribune.com/business/17324849.html

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This article illustrates why I haven't gone in for one and tells of unwarranted increases in premiums similar to the ones I've experienced.

[CatholicEdHead]

1. I was once offered Section 125 at work

While it looked like a good deal, the problem I did not like was that if you do not use the money, you loose it at the end of the year plan. There was no year-to-year rollover. That is why I decided to pass on it.

[dflprincess]

2. I think you're mixing the Health Savings Accounts up with the Flexible Spending Accounts

the FSAs can't be rolled over and there's a cap on how much you can put in them in year. They're pretax dollars and they're handy for covering deductibles or other health expenses not covered by insurance. The drawback is that you have to spend all the money or you lose it at the end of the year.

Health Savings Accounts can be carried over from year to year - but I can't imagine anyone in their 60s thinking one is a good idea. They strike me as something someone in their 20s might get suckered into. - You know, someone still young enough to think they'll never get sick enough to need a hospital stay or who can't has no idea what a broken leg or appendectomy might cost.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. A common mistake--some of the people responding to the Strib article

are confused on that point.

I hope some of you chime in on the reactions to the thread, or at least rate the responses.

[dflprincess]

8. Others beat me to responding about the Flex spending confusion

but I did respond to some bozo who thinks this book he recommended called "YOUR HEALTH MATTERS" that apparently slams single payer systems can be believed because one of the authors is a health insurance broker.

Whoever thinks this author is trustworthy apparently doens't know how much money brokers make off the current system.

[question everything]

4. This is really strange

I have been thinking of opening an HSA, I just did not bother to take the time to search for institutions offering it, as the one where I have my IRA does not. And, I was thinking of calling BCBS where I carry my regular insurance.

I did not think that having an HSA would keep premium down. I was just thinking that it would help me pay for deductibles and co-pay with pre-tax money - the way it is done with flexible accounts - and, in contrast to the latter, what is left would be able to grow tax free.

According to the article, his deductibles keep growing, almost automatically. Every year I get a letter from BCBS that offers a choice: increase deductibles for a lower raise in premium, or keep the same amount of deductibles for, yes, a double digit percentage raise.

Mine are $1,500 and the $600 for the allergens that are used for my periodic allergy shots takes most of it up front.

Before I am going to open an HSA account with BCBS, I am going to ask some hard questions.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Like many Republican initiatives, it sounds like a "maybe" at first hearing, but

then you study the details and you see that it's just another way for corporations to screw you over.

[loveable liberal]

6. Why should we have to "shop" for health care?

Standards are standards, illness is illness. One of the benefits of living in this nation is that for trading our lives to work for the betterment of society is that when we get ill in our endeavor that we should be cared for. Its a social contract. Now republicans want to label care with a dollar sign. I wish there was a Hell, because they would all go.....

[dflprincess]

7. I wondered about that myself

I suppose it's one thing when you're scheduling a routine screening test. But, if I've broken out in a cold sweat and there's pain going up my left arm into my jaw, I don't think I'll start calling to check the rates of various ambulance companies or cardiac care units....For that matter, if I found a lump in my breast I might call around to see who could do the mammogram soonest - but price wouldn't be my first concern.

[loveable liberal]

9. exaxtly! bottom line, people make money from sick people.

which is what we're actually talking about here. How much should people be able to profit from other peoples sickness? I say zero.