sounds like a scam. or basically a way to fuck over employees on their health plans. basically high deductible ($3k versus $500) and low cost for the employer. then you can open a HSA account where you can throw $3k a year in there? anyone know shit about this? sounds pretty fucking lame, kind of seems like a cut in benefits.
This is how the damned learn of their failure to heed warnings..hey elect obummer again , Hell is closer than most will believe
yeah man. wtf. $3k deductible, what the fuck is that. so if i go twist my ankle and have to go to the ER, its $3k? fuck that.
My understanding is you put whatever you decide up to $3K in the HSA. It is put in there pretax. You can submit deductible payments and uncovered medical to get reimbursed from your $3K or whatever you put in there. You forfeit amounts that youd don't get reimbursed. It's a good deal as long as you only put in the amount you will definitely claim.
well, except i have to pay a high ass deductible for anything. and have to put money in an account. on the outset it seems like my company is saving money while I pay more out of pocket for anything.
Oh I see. So you have a $3K deductible too? So yeah, if you have to go to the ER you have to pay the $3K out of your HSA which is pretax.
It doesn't work like that. You HSA contributions are pre-tax, withheld from your paycheck. You get a debit card for the account. When you twist your ankle and it costs $150 for the office visit, you use the debit card. After your medical bills for the year reach $3K, insurance pays the rest. The $3K max is great if you need a $200K brain surgery, or whatever. $3K is a pretty good plan. Many are $8K or more. You can roll over unspent account money. When you retire, you can draw against it at a lower tax bracket/rate.
It's a good thing, but only if you use up your $3K. I didn't know that you could roll it over, so if that's true then it's good all the way around.
It's really inexpensive. Saves the company money. You get to choose your own care. The care is at a discount, too. For example, if you're in the 33% tax bracket, you'd have to earn $300, pay $100 of it in tax, then pay the bill. Traditional insurance might cost $500/mo. At $3K deductible, the max it costs you is $250/mo. You can put up to 6% of your pay in the account, tax free. If you only spend the $150, you spent like $12.50/mo.
This is what many, many small businesses are having to do. They just can't afford to pay for low deductible plans for their employees, so they opt for a higher deductible plan and can then contribute some amount towards their HSA to help offset some of the high deductible.
wait, should they contribute. the way they were telling me is I'd have to pay into the account, auto deduct from paycheck. i think they're trying to pull a fast one. anyway, this ghetto ass plan is kind of decreasing my loyalty at work.
They're generally a good thing as long as you know how the plan works, which it sounds like you don't. If I were you, I'd sit down with the company administrator and keep asking questions until you've got it down. Denny's explanation was great, but plans may have quirks/differences and it's worth getting the straight scoop from the person administering the plan. Fwiw, rock solid insurance with low deductibles would be better than what you've got, but you're still in a better place than most.
They don't have to contribute. But it gives them the option on how much they want to pay in any year because their contribution amount is easily modifiable. They probably aren't trying to pull a fast one. It's pretty obvious companies do this to try to save money. If you don't like it, talk to the idiots in the government who think that the way to "lower costs" is to increase demand for healthcare while lowering supply and just pumping more wasteful money into the system instead of actually addressing the real reason for the high costs.
I was given the choice between a HRA and a HSA when I joined my company, and chose HRA. HSA is great for people who anticipate a lot of medical expenses.
HSA's are nice, depending how they're set up. Some companies offer them instead of providing health insurance. If this is the case, BOO! My company pays my health/dental/vision insurance (and my kids'). Then, we can participate in the HSA if we choose. With kids, I set aside $150/month for the HSA (it was great to max out during the years my wife was pregnant). Comes out of my paycheck pre-tax. You can buy a lot of things with the HSA account. With ours, we have to submit for reimbursement, but it takes about 2-3 days from submitting to receive reimbursement. But some places, like Walgreen's, breaks out things that generally qualify for HSA accounts separately on a receipt, so it's easy to track. Plus, you can use at the doctor, dentist, chiropractor, etc. The biggest benefit is that we all spend money on HSA qualifying expenses. For tax purposes, you have to exceed a certain floor tied to your income before you can deduct medical expenses. But the HSA allows you to essentially lower your taxable income. Look at this very plain, basic, calculation: No HSA: $80K taxed at 30% = $24000 (so if you spend $3K in health care, you spent a total of $27K) W/ HSA: $80K minus $3K = $77K taxed at 30% = 23100 (so between tax and health care, you spent $26,100) This is a plain example, but if you spend money on health-related items, you can save yourself a little money. When my second daughter was born, we were on the brink of a tax bracket. We had put just enough money in the HSA to lower my taxable income and get a lower tax rate, so for us, we actually saved quite a bit of money that year.
HSA are a good alternative to lower your health care cost, especially if you have multiple people on your plan. The main down side as I see it is that you have to be more involved in your health care costs and plans, and not just get sick go to your doctor and pay your co-pay. The other thing that sucks a little bit about HSA's is that if you switch to one and get sick before you have money saved in your account you have to pay for your care out of pocket. To the few people who blame this on Obama care and try to make everything healthcare related an Obama care issue, this is not the case. HSAs have been around for awhile and were put in place to help people try to mitigate the already spiraling out of control health care costs.
