school me: insurance

Sunidaze

Annual enrollment is coming up in a month or two and this year we've taken away one of the regular insurance options and replaced it with a HSA.  DH's employer has taken away their insurance and replaced it with a HSA.  Does anyone currently have one?  Advantages over regular insurance?  Disadvantages?  I'm trying to understand it and still a bit unclear on all aspects of it at this time.  Sad since I'm in HR, but benefits is not my thing!

Raspberry807

R has one and it's okay if the company does it right.  Usually you have a very high deductible (his is $2,500 single $5,000 family) and then everything past that is covered 100%.  So your annual out-of-pocket max is usually that deductible.  You pay a much lower monthly premium than traditional insurance (R's is $60/mo), and you can elect for the company to withhold additional pre-tax funds from payroll to go into the HSA that you can spend on the out-of-pocket costs.  Many companies fund the employees' HSA for them at least part of the way.

Also most routine stuff is covered 100% with no deductible, like well-baby visits and vaccines, women wellness visits... so that's nice.

sparker298

they can work all different ways..some employeers fund part of the hsa others do not at all fund the hsa. the above was a very good explanation,  but you really need to get your calculator out and compare the monthly costs and what you anticipate over the year that may be coming out of your pocket for the hsa/deductible.

CrimsonStar

We now have an HSA through DH's work vs the major medical through my work. I don't have all the nit-picky specs of the policy, but the company did put money towards it and DH contributes tax-free from his paycheck. There are wellness credits he earns by getting annual check-ups and things like that. I think the deductible is $2500, and I *think* depending on what it is, the procedure or whatever is covered 80/20, but I could be wrong. I don't believe the money is use-it-or-lose-it at the end of the year either, it carries over, but you start over w/the deductible. It's nice that the account can be used for things like eyeglasses/contacts and a breast pump for me. Gosh, I hope all that is right! lol

christieep

Late to the party here....

All of the above explanations are really good.  You have to look at your individual policy though to really figure things out.  My HSA had a $3000 deductible for a family policy then insurance only picked up 80% after that up to a $3000 out of pocket maximum (which didn't start accruing until the deductible was met).  I do not have to pay any part of the premium through my employer.  My employer sold the plan saying they would match up to a certain amount and I find I am only getting about half of what they initially said they would match.  If I switch back to the other insurance plan I will have better coverage and pay less towards the premium every month than I am putting in the HSA. 

If you switch plans after having an HSA, you can still use your leftover funds to pay medical expenses, you just can't make anymore tax-free contributions.