Consumer Driven Health Care Plans?

[Imachickadee75]

Okay, without getting into the details, it looks like it will cost our family $100.00 less per bi monthly pay period to go with the consumer driven plan than what we're paying for our current insurance (before any premimum increases for 2010) So I guess that is $200 per month that we could put into our Health Savings Account to put towards our expenses and prescriptions.

Oh yeah, and they've extended our open enrollment period until the end of the first week of Nov.

[Melissa]

I wish they would send out more information on it. DH heard that all of this was in preparation for whatever healthcare reform/plan the government passes. They are going to do something, that's almost certain. I kind of like the idea of the HSA. With the savings in the premiums, we can put tax detuctible savings into the account, which can help meet the deductibles, right? Our family yearly maximum will be $2400, I think. And the plan doesn't go into effect for another 2 years, so that gives us 2 years to prepare for that $2400.

At least, I think this is how it's going to work???

[Imachickadee75]

No, if you sign up for the health plan now, you're on the health plan now not in two years.

I did read somewhere that the incentives will continue for at least the second if not third year at $750 for families, so that is helpful.

[Chi829]

Jackie, Melissa, Roz,,, HELP! Ok,,, I am soooooo embarassed to say that I am CLUELESS about HSA's and to be honest, Im really NERVOUS about ASA and SKYWEST going to this because I am so clueless... what is an HSA? How will this affect us I we decided to have another baby next year? We were REALLY pleased with United's plan and our PPO when we had LIam last year,,, Im am very curious to see if this HSA will save us money????

[amelia]

No, if you sign up for the health plan now, you're on the health plan now not in two years.

I did read somewhere that the incentives will continue for at least the second if not third year at $750 for families, so that is helpful.

The first two years is 1K...so if you sign up now, over the next two years you get 2k, if you sign up in a year, you get 1k into your heath savings account. DH said after that its nothing, but I thought after the 2 years its $750 a year??

[roz]

A Health Savings Account is an account owned by the individual (as opposed to an HRA or Health Reimbursement Arrangement) that is pre-tax and unused funds may be rolled over year to year. It is available to individuals who are enrolled in high-deductible health plans. You can withdraw the funds for qualified medical expenses tax free. Other withdrawals are subject to the same tax rules as early withdrawls from an IRA. And the funds in an HRA are invested and subject to market fluctuations.

Surveys show that those who are healthy express more satisfaction with the HRA/HDHP combination. Those who are on maintenance drugs, have children, chronic conditions or who lack the income to fund an HRA and can't meet the deductible are far less satisfied.

[Imachickadee75]

Update: SkyWest will not be offering the HMO option this year, only the PPO at a "slight" increase in premiums. Since we were HMO I don't know how much the PPO cost last year.

[Imachickadee75]

I can't find the article to reference now but, I read today that there are two bill before the House and Senate that would reduce the amount a person or family could contribute to their Health Savings Account. As it stands now there is no Federal maximum but most companies cap theirs. The bills propose a maximum of $2500, more than half of what our company currently allows. The reasoning is that the money that goes in is tax free, thus reducing federal tax revenues -ya know, we gotta pay for all that stimulus money somehow, never mind the fact that one ER visit would wipe that out in the first 15 minutes!
I WAS leaning towards this route, but this development really scares me. I'm tempted by the company incentives but I'm afraid of where we'll wind up.

[jr_lenz]

I am still going over and over the plans. If we switched ALL of us to the skywest plan we would save 2,000 in prem. add the 1,000 from skywest and another 1200 from our flex account we would have 4,000 dollars in the account. Sounds great. except I know I have some big bills that will eat into that amount. However I pretty sure we would meet the deductible pretty quick, then it is a 80/20 like most insurances are now. RX are covered before the deductible they have a link to calculate the cost. my are pretty darn reasable. 24 and 30 for 90 day dose, for my main two that I take.

I have really been doing my homework on this, and I think that HSA can be really good. You are still spending the same amount of money in preiums, but you have a choice on what it is beening spent on, and if you don't use it then you keep it.

for example we spend 6,000 thru my insurance for all of us. Lance and Trayton used it to get a flu shot. thats it (it doesn't pay for the flight check up). so if we went with the HSA we pay 2,000 in premium, and put 4,000 in the savings, if we use only 2,500 that year, then the other 1,500 we keep. Before the money was just gone, cause it was going towards premiums.

Our promblem is that it only saves us money if all of the family goes to it. If we split the family there is no saving. So 1st I would have to get on skywest insurance, will be ify cause of the pre-exsiting conditions. And two, what ever is done at my hospital is cover at 100%. So when I had Stevie, all we paid is for the doctor, all of the hospital bills were coverd. That is pretty big deal for me.

so I still don't know....

[Imachickadee75]

My thing is that one ER visit the day after we sign up for the plan is going to put us in about $4000 in debt. With three little boys, and an active but clumsy husband its a real possiblity.

The whole thing makes me angry. There is lots of talk about being more "responsible" and "pro-active" with the money we spend on healthcare...like somehow we've been "irresponsible" for paying premiums all along even though it was our only option!

And in the scenario I described above with an ER visit, or even facing having to pay for an office visit upfront ($80+ to walk in the door at our peds office although I don't know if its discounted with the plan), how often am I going to have to weigh the health and safety of my child against our financial bottom line? For example, does the baby have an ear infection or is he just cranky? Hmmmm, do we have the $80 to have the doc look in his ear for five seconds when it could be nothing? Or, geez, he hit his head pretty hard, do we go into the ER and face a thousand dollar bill or more or let it ride for awhile? For us, sometimes its hard to come up with our $20/$50 copay in this instance much less $80 or more!