A health savings account, or HSA, combines a high deductible health plan with a tax-favored savings account. Assuming there is transparency, as the Colorado Health Insurance Insider recently tested for, HSAs would encourage people to shop for health care just as they would for a new television or car. The HSA concept allows the free… Read more about The Real Risk of an HSA
HSA
Past Averages Do Not Predict the Future
I just read a blog post by Dani at Living Behind the Curve. She writes about her thoughts on going without health insurance in order to work part-time. Initially, she goes looking for individual health insurance, but talks herself out of it for several reasons. The policy has a $5000 deductible, and Dani calculates that… Read more about Past Averages Do Not Predict the Future
Humana Says the Price is a Secret
Note: This is the fourth entry in my price transparency experiment. See the first entry here, the second entry here, the third entry here, and the fifth entry here. Jay has written several times over the last month about his lipoma surgery and the billing headache that it has become. When we got the bill… Read more about Humana Says the Price is a Secret
I Got the Bill
Note: This is the third entry in my experiment with price transparency in the US health care system. See the first entry here, the second entry here, the fourth entry here, and the fifth entry here. I finally got the bill for the surgery (pdf). It was quite high compared to the estimate I received…. Read more about I Got the Bill
What is a Copay?
First of all, a plan with copays is usually going to be a waste of money. A copay is a dollar amount the health insurance company has specified that you’ll pay for either doctors visits or prescription drugs. A typical plan will have $25 doctors visit copays and $15 copays for generic Rx and $30… Read more about What is a Copay?
Cavalcade of Risk – Anniversary Edition
Congratulations to Hank Stern of InsureBlog for completing his first year with the Cavalcade of Risk. Hank usually hunts for extra risk related blogs to include in each edition, but for the anniversary edition he decided to stick with just us “regulars”. That was still enough to get 15 top quality posts. It was interesting… Read more about Cavalcade of Risk – Anniversary Edition
Grand Rounds
Inside Surgery hosts this weeks Grand Rounds. It was a fitting blog post to include my article about how hard it is to get pricing transparency on a surgery if you’ve got an HSA qualified plan in Colorado.
IRS Announces 2008 COLA Amounts for HSAs
The Internal Revenue Service has announced the 2008 cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for high deductible health plans (HDHPs) that are offered in conjunction with health savings accounts (HSAs). The minimum required annual deductibles for HDHPs will remain unchanged in 2008. However, the annual contribution limits and the maximum out-of-pocket limits will be raised. For… Read more about IRS Announces 2008 COLA Amounts for HSAs
Still No Transparency
Note: This is the second entry in this nightmare to get some transparency on a simple lipoma removal surgery. See the first entry here, and the third entry here. I found a dermatologist that could remove my lipoma (if you haven’t done so already – read part 1) in her office (Boulder Valley Center for… Read more about Still No Transparency
Misperception of a Free Market
Proponents of private health care make it sound really simple to the average person. I always hear the statement “A free market system will ensure the best price and service”. While that may be true with most other industries, that argument over simplifies what healthcare is and misses the point. I’ll show you what I… Read more about Misperception of a Free Market
Paying for a Pregnancy
Lately I’ve been pondering the expenses involved with having a baby. Jay and I have been married four years, and we’ve started discussing the idea. Obviously, there are enormous costs that continue to accrue over the years – everything from cribs to college, most of which can be lowered through frugal living. But what about… Read more about Paying for a Pregnancy
Employer Group HSA Comparibility
Colorado employers that want to make HSA contributions to employees on a pre-tax basis are required to make those contributions on a “comparable” basis. This rule is designed to prevent employers from favoring one group of employees over another. Of course, it gets somewhat complicated. For one thing, the rules allow employers to treat the… Read more about Employer Group HSA Comparibility
Non-Transparency
Note: This is the first entry in this nightmare to get some transparency on a simple lipoma removal surgery. See the second entry here, and the third entry here. I’ve had a lipoma on my right shoulder blade for the past 5 years. I didn’t do anything about it right away because the doctor told… Read more about Non-Transparency
It’s Tax Day
Because it’s tax day, we thought we might give you some more to read about taxes (just in-case you haven’t had enough yet). Don’t mess with taxes has a great tax carnival out called “Quit Monkeying Around“. Read up and make tax day a lot less stressful next year…..
IRS Rules On HSAs Not Finished for 2007
I have a Colorado client that has had an HSA with us for a few years. Her husband is on medicare, so she’s had a high deductible health insurance plan with a family deductible of $5,000 with just her and her daughter on the plan. This spring, her daughter graduates from college and will be… Read more about IRS Rules On HSAs Not Finished for 2007
What We Have for Health Insurance
We only use our health insurance on the very rare occasion that I hurt myself snowboarding or riding my MUni. But we would like to have the protection there just in case something big does happen. And in the future, we would like to finance a childbirth or two, dental procedures, and maybe LASIK. And… Read more about What We Have for Health Insurance
President Signs HSA Bill – What Do You Think?
President Bush signed the Health Opportunity Empowerment Act of 2006 yesterday, enhancing possible tax relief to those with an HSA. According to Treasury Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy Eric Solomon, the new bill “makes it easier for participants to put money aside for their personal health care”. What do you think? “As soon as I’m able… Read more about President Signs HSA Bill – What Do You Think?
President Bush Signs HSA Bill
President George W. Bush signed the Health Opportunity Patient Empowerment Act of 2006 today, enhancing Americans’ access to tax- advantaged health care savings. The law, part of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, provides new opportunities for health savings account (HSA) participants’ to build their funds. “Health savings accounts are improving the… Read more about President Bush Signs HSA Bill
What Needs To Be Done
There is a crisis in the American health care system. The government got very excited about health savings accounts a couple years ago, but HSAs have not fixed anything. There are 41 million uninsured people in this country – and that doesn’t count everyone who’s already on government-sponsored Medicare and Medicaid. It is not uncommon… Read more about What Needs To Be Done
Big News for HSAs
Over the weekend, Congress passed huge new changes in HSA Legislation, it only needs the President’s signature to become law. With an effective date of 2007 for the law, we wanted to make Colorado Health Insurance Insider readers aware of the possible changes. All of the legislation is an improvement for HSAs and includes the following. Full HSA Deduction. The new… Read more about Big News for HSAs
Health Insurance For All Colorado Citizens by 2010
America’s health system is breaking down and health costs are increasing more than five times the earnings increase for Colorado workers. HSAs were introduced in 2004 as a way to cut down on over-utilization, but they aren’t gaining wide acceptance, they don’t really help the problem anyway, and they won’t work. But there is a more progressive… Read more about Health Insurance For All Colorado Citizens by 2010
How Do You Like Your HSA?
I haven’t actually kept any statistics, but a lot (maybe half) of our Colorado health insurance clients that I talk to with HSA qualified high deductible health insurance plans haven’t opened up a health savings account to go with it. They usually say they got the plan because it was just one of the cheapest… Read more about How Do You Like Your HSA?
HSAs Wont Cleanup the Waste
After writing about how health insurance invites waste, I came upon an article Ezra Klein wrote about the fact that even HSAs won’t help slow that waste. He makes a good point because the total exposures are usually the same. But once the out-of-pocket maximum is met, there is nothing to slow the wasteful spending… Read more about HSAs Wont Cleanup the Waste
Health Insurance Invites Waste
What if you had supermarket insurance and 20% was the most you would pay for any item you bought? Would you be as choosy about what you buy as you are now? Would you care as much about price? If you didn’t care as much about price, would the supermarket have an incentive to keep… Read more about Health Insurance Invites Waste
Families Feeling the Squeeze
Current predictions are that health care costs could rise by at least 10% in 2007, further straining an already stretched market. The part of the article that I found most interesting was that studies show that Americans spent about the same portion of their annual budget – 6% – on health care in 1960 that… Read more about Families Feeling the Squeeze