HSA - Hot Topics
Health savings accounts (HSAs for
short) are a hot topic at the moment. With the US health-care system in
desperate need of reform, personal health savings accounts might be the
answer consumers and politicians are looking for.
Created as part and parcel of a
2003 Medicare bill, health savings accounts are designed to subsidize
and even replace medical insurance as the primary means of paying for
health care costs. HSAs are also intended to make health care in general
more accessible to US residents in response to the overwhelming number
of adults and children who do not have medical insurance of any kind.
These particular savings accounts
are designed to help people set aside sizeable amount of money to cover
future medical and retiree health expenses. Consumers can sign up for
these accounts with banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and a
number of other organizations that opt to provide them.
HSAs don’t need to be purchased,
which is considered one of their major advantages of current health
insurances schemes. The only product available for purchase with the HSA
is the High Deductible Health Plan that covers an individual’s medical
expenses exceeding available HSA funds.
As of 2005, HSAs were made
available to individuals with a minimum HDHP deductible of at least
$1,000. The minimum deductible for family coverage was $2,000. Annual
out-of-pocket expenses were deemed to not exceed $5,100 for individual
coverage or $10,200 for family coverage, although the amounts have
changed somewhat in the last year. By 2006, the individual out-of-pocket
expenses were increased to $5,250 maximum and for families, $10,500.
Acceptable HDHP deductible are able to have first dollar coverage for
preventative care.
Opening a health savings account is
relatively simple but the process depends on whether you’re looking to
open the account by yourself or through your employer. When you’re
opening the account independently for you or our family, you need to
check out the list of health insurance companies that offer the
HAS-eligible plans for your state of residence. EHealthInsurance.com and
most local insurance agencies allow you to compare healthcare policies
for HSA accounts and it’s strongly recommended that you review your
options carefully, discussing them with your family if necessary.
If you’re looking
to open an HSA through your employer, the best method is to see if
benefits manager of your company and talk to them about whether HSAs are
currently available to company employees. Some employers are choosing to
fund all or part of employee HSAs so this health insurance option
definitely worth consideration and exploring.
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