Not sure I really like the HSA our insurance is switching to....

[aphex]

Our health insurance is switching to a HSA next year, no option for anything else. Although the company is funding a good portion of the deductible, with the insanely high medical prices these days, it can add up quickly. Also, the company won't say if the funding they offer will continue every year, in fact they hinted they may not fund much at all the following year.

Our HSA works as follows;

1st Stage - $2,500 yearly deductible, company funds $2,300, we fund $200. Everything is paid at full retail prices out of our HSA Acct. So if a drug costs $175, we pay $175. If we need an MRI at $1,000, we pay $1,000 out of our HSA.

2nd Stage - Once we reach $2,500, it goes into an 80/20 phase until we hit $5,000. We pay 20%, the Insurance company pays 80%.

3rd Stage - Over $5,000, we get 100% coverage (we pay nothing).

Our potential out of pocket expense for the year would be $200 (phase 1), $500 (phase 2) as well as our monthly premium at ~$1,800 (~$150/mo) = $2,500 (~$208/mo over 12 months)

Problem is, with the insanely high price of medical services these days, we will likely hit the deductible very quickly. The two medications my wife and I are currently on, hers will be ~ $50/mo, mine is $175/mo. That's $2,700 just in medication each year, not counting a single doctors visit. No generics are available for my medication, and alternatives are nearly as expensive, so I'm not really able to switch to something cheaper. Looking over the bills from doctors visits over the past year, the specialist I saw for my wrist charged $475 for a single visit. My regular doc, $250 per visit.

Anyone here switched to an HSA? What do you think of it?

 

[umbrella39]

Ouch! I have worked at many hospitals that had HSA's as an option but not as the only choice. That is too bad. May I ask... do you work for a small, med, big company? A HSA might not be a bad thing to a single person but I would be very reluctant to sign up with any company that only offers HSA if one has a wife and kids to worry about, too.

 

[Drakkon]

I'm in a similar boat - its frustrating to try and live a healthy lifestyle but still need medication to control certain conditions that end up adding up pretty quick. To have to use a HSA is just frustrating, chances are you'll hit that "potential" situation once in the coming years - one hospital visit and your into "phase 2", but it does at least sound like they are trying to cover the most possible for you. With any pre-existing condition any other offer out there will cost any less from my experience. If its your only option its what you have to deal with i guess.

 

[jumpr]

That sucks. I love my job because I still have a choice of about 7 or 8 HMO/PPO plans for about $60/mo. But it does sound like your employer is trying hard to make it satisfactory for its employees.

 

[mugs]

I don't think it's normal for two people in their 20s (?) to permanently be on medications. For a reasonably healthy person, the HSA wouldn't be too bad. Companies are trying to cut costs.

 

[smack Down]

So every year you get 2,700 in medications yet pay 1,800 in premium and you are surprised that your rates are going up.

 

[Slew Foot]

That doesnt sound that bad, your max payment for the year is 2500 (100% of anything else is covered), once you hit the cap, you might as well see the doc every week and load up on prescriptions for the next couple years.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: mugs
I don't think it's normal for two people in their 20s (?) to permanently be on medications.

What?

It could be asthma, allergies, diabetes, high blood pressure (genetically pre-disposed), etc....

 

[BigFatCow]

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: mugs
I don't think it's normal for two people in their 20s (?) to permanently be on medications.

What?

It could be asthma, allergies, diabetes, high blood pressure (genetically pre-disposed), etc....

The majority of people I know in their 20s are not on medicine that they have to take every day.

 

[lykaon78]

I love our HSA. We have a 2100 dollar per person deductible or 4200 family deductible. We pay the first 100% of the $2100 deductible at the prices our insurer would pay themselves. After that we don't pay a thing.

The first year my wife's employer contributed $2600 bucks and $1000 bucks a year after that. There is no premium coming out of her check so we just contributed the same amount that she paid for insurance pre-HSA. In two years we easily cleared the family deductible.

My wife is a teacher in a good suburban school so that helps a little.

 

[SuperjetMatt]

I've got a family with 3 kids.

I had the low deductible plan this year ($350/$700).
I am paying $4,000 per year in premiums.
After the deductible, the insurance paid 85%, I paid 15%.
This year, they have paid a total of $4000 in claims.
Yay, I broke even.

For 2009, I am switching to the high deductible plan ($2,500/$5,000) plus HSA. I will be funding it to the max, which is $5,950/year.
Of that, the company pays $1,667.
The premiums are $950/year.
Ultimately, I'll be paying slightly more each month than I do now, but I get to reduce my taxable income and pay may medical expenses tax-free. Sounds like a good idea to me.
I get to treat my insurance like actual insurance, not like a maintenance plan that somehow pays more than I put in (other than actual emergency insurance cases, of course).

By the way, you don't have to pay everything at full retail value. Just about every medical place I've ever paid offers a 10% cash discount. (which you get with HSA)

About the $175 drug....is that for the generic version?

 

[Bignate603]

Man, my costs went up 10% for next year and I thought that was bad.

 

[mrSHEiK124]

Originally posted by: SuperjetMatt
About the $175 drug....is that for the generic version?

Originally posted by: aphex
<snip>No generics are available for my medication,</snip>

 

[boomhower]

My employer(local govt) pays fully for our insurance but you better hope your spouse can get medical coverage as the family plan is a bit over $600 month.

 

[Turin39789]

I am on an HSA, Deductible is 3000, company funds $1500, after deductible is met, everything is paid at 100%. I never go over my $1500, I'm not on prescriptions and the HSA covers a preventative exam at 100% with no deduct. I use my HSA money to pay for OTC meds, My glasses/contacts and all of my dental claims. It's been building up, and worst case scenario is I will have to pony up my half of the $1500 after a major accident but then everything will be covered in full, including meds.

My premium is iirc around $8 per pat period so $192 per year. Or I could get our HMO for iirc $80 per pay period and pay $2080 per year. The HSA is a win for me.

 

[SuperjetMatt]

That's my thinking.

I think I'm better at spending my money than the insurance company or the gubmint, harr.

 

[preslove]

Originally posted by: BigFatCow

Originally posted by: Brainonska511

Originally posted by: mugs
I don't think it's normal for two people in their 20s (?) to permanently be on medications.

What?

It could be asthma, allergies, diabetes, high blood pressure (genetically pre-disposed), etc....

The majority of people I know in their 20s are not on medicine that they have to take every day.

No one gives a fuck who you know. There are plenty of genetic conditions that affect people in their 20's who have healthy lifestyles. You should be thankful that you and your friends are not among them and shut the fuck up.

 

[Fritzo]

I have an HSA- it's not all that bad.

Build your savings account up to about $2000-$2500. It's tax free, so if you do a $100 deduction per paycheck, it only translates to around $75 off your pay. Once you get your account up to that level, you basically have everything payed for and you can drop your contributions down to minimal levels.

Keep in mind, you can actually save a lot of money by buying health and health related items tax free with your account (you get issued checks and a debit/credit card). You can use it to buy all of your toothpaste, soap, band-aids, medicine, perscriptions, exercise/therapy equipment, shoe inserts----anything that you can give a "health" spin

I have one for my family. My contribution + premium payment = $550 for a familiy of 4. 80/20 insurance cost us $900/month, and we still had to pay 20% of any costs on top of that, so it works out to be a LOT cheaper.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: lykaon78
I love our HSA. We have a 2100 dollar per person deductible or 4200 family deductible. We pay the first 100% of the $2100 deductible at the prices our insurer would pay themselves. After that we don't pay a thing.

The first year my wife's employer contributed $2600 bucks and $1000 bucks a year after that. There is no premium coming out of her check so we just contributed the same amount that she paid for insurance pre-HSA. In two years we easily cleared the family deductible.

My wife is a teacher in a good suburban school so that helps a little.

See for us our premium stayed around the same, so not only do we have the monthly premium that we had before, but we have the added HSA to fund.

 

[JDub02]

I have a great deal on my health insurance currently. I'm in a 90/10 plan (they pay 90, I pay 10) with no deductible. That costs me somewhere around $200/month for myself and my wife.

Next year, we're going to the high deductible plan. Same 90/10, but the deductible is $2500 with the company pitching in $600. That's only costing us $50/month. Works out almost the same if we'd need it, but I like the option of being able to keep the money if we don't. Also, everything is at negotiated rates. That's the really nice part.

 

[cruzer]

OP, you likely will not pay "full retail price". As long as you are using in-network providers, you pay a far lower negotiated plan price.

 

[CU]

Where I work our my ins. is free, but it just go to high to insure my wife and two kids, so I went and got a high deductible insurance plan from Statefarm for my wife and kids. It cost $178/month. We also have an HSA account that can be used for them. No matter what I did with the numbers this was cheaper than what my employer offered. It amazes me that it was cheaper to go find ins. than to use what my company offered.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Actually, that's really reasonable...for HSAs. Nice that your company is covering so much of the HSA deductible. If they yank that funding away, then it would definitely suck.

But yeah, compared to standard PPOs, and even a lot of HMOs, it's not that great of a plan. And with chronic conditions and standing prescriptions, you'll never actually accrue anything in your HSA. (which is why I hate when HR depts push them: "You can also use your HSA for things like OTC medications, band-aids and vitamins; and with the interest you build over time, it's like free money!!" [bigusedcarsalessmile]).

However, talk with your doc about costs, they'll often reduce their rates for people on HSAs. If not, then seek services elsewhere.

In all honesty, an HSA could make total sense for me, since I'm healthy, not on meds, etc... Assuming premiums were substantially lower, I'd deduct, pre-tax, some amount I'd expect for coverage anyway and I would use the HSA funds for OTC stuff.

At my employer (Hospital) I only pay $20 per month now for fairly standard individual PPO, 80/20 coverage. They actually took HSA off the table this year because basically no one signed up for them when compared to the other plans, and the administrative costs for the few who did outweighed any savings from offering HDHPs.

Even so, since my wife is not healthy, in the event that she might lose her own job and so her coverage, I like knowing I can have her added to a real plan under my coverage.