Health Savings Account-Health Savings Account Info

Bill O asked:


After the Stimulus, the Bank Bailout, the 410 billion omnibus, and the proposed 610 Billion Health care downpayment, the Congress needed to find the next fiscal emergency for this week!
And they found it!
A proposed $500 Billion Bailout of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. the guys that guarantee our checking and savings accounts!Why? Its been hit so hard by the Bank closures, its going broke!
This is scary stuff!
What say you America?
Are we all going down this year?
Please opine if so inclined, and don’t be….pecksniffian in the No Spin Zone!
10 hours ago - 4 days left to answer.

Joseph Hatchet

Future Mrs. N asked:


Im 30 weeks pregnant and I’ve been looking into health insurance policies for our soon-to-be newborn due in June. Because it’s too expensive to put her on my insurance ($400+ monthly) I’ve been looking on ehealthinsurance.com to find plans.

All these policies cover different things such as Rx, health savings accounts, maternity, etc. My question is, do I need to get a policy that covers maternity in order to get coverage for our newborn? I thought maternity was only for PREGNANT women but there are so many different definitions that I’m confused. Help me out please!

Also, I have my own insurance policy through my work and will not be needing this health insurance. It will only be used for the baby. Thanks!

Fumiko Blouir

Molly asked:


After 11 yrs together (6 married), I’ve gone through 3 ***** relapses (which I was not aware he was even an ex-addict when I got with him or even for the first 3 yrs of our relationship)and being accused of cheating at least once a month. Also I’m a maid, cook, babysitter, laundry house, and accountant. Normally that would be fine if I got any help at all from him. I work as many and often more hours than he does, yet I come home to a destroyed house, people fighting all the time, a husband who just sits on the couch and watches TV, and only gets involved with the kids when it gets in the way of whatever he’s doing. There’s no love that I can feel anymore, I don’t know if I even love him at all. When I asked him why he relapsed this time, he blamed it on me and said that I’ve been harping on his weight too much ( I harp on his health, not weight- Dr says he has to do something or die within 15 yrs most likely), then gets all crocodile teary with me in a whiny voice and throws himself in the floor at my feet (where I am in complete shock at this newest relapse). I told him the last time was the last time I would deal with this. Now I have 2 kids invested and 11yrs of being step mom to 3 more. I can’t help but feel trapped in a completely horrifying way. I don’t want to repeat this cycle every 8 yrs for the rest of my life.
I should have listened to my parents and friends and got out before it got weird, or at least gotten out when it did. I was stupid. But here I am today, dealing with the fallout of the 3rd relapse and empty savings account, with my landlord trying to sell the house we are renting from him. Think what these uncertainties are going to do to the kids.

What would you do if you were or have been in my shoes?

Efrain Cayce

TD asked:


If my son obtains shots (for free) at the Department of Health (immunizations), is there a need to see the pediatrician at 2 mos, 4 mos, 6 mos, 9 mos, 12 mos, 15 mos, and 18 mos just for a physical exam? My mother-in-law just took her sons to the health clinic for shots when they were younger and the primary clinic if they were sick, but bypassed the ped’s office due to cost. We are overqualified for medicaid and uninsured ($600 a month for us - employer’s insurance is expensive). We have an emergency savings fund and a flexible spending account for healthcare.

Garret Annal

Karen asked:


http://www.burtonreport.com/InfHealthCare/BritNatHealthServ.htm

The British National Health Service

There exists in England today a sometimes uncaring, often unresponsive and typically disrespectful health care system. This system, as well as other global socialized systems, not created in regard to the patient’s best interest, continue to be considered as worthy of emulation by many in the United States government. This continues to be a very much ill-advised initiative. The latest “buzz” in health care is “evidence-based medical practice.” Well, let’s examine the evidence:

There is little question but that the American health care system is inordinately expensive. Perhaps value is being received because longevity and quality of life have progressively increased and patient satisfaction remains high. There is also little doubt, however, but that we could do a much better job of improving service and decreasing overall cost by replacing HMOs with MSAs (Medical Savings Accounts) and getting serious about a paradigm shift to a truly preventive mode.

Before rushing to adapt another failed system the United States needs to carefully assess what we have now. “Queuing-up” has been part of the British persona for many decades. It’s not, however, part of the American mind-set. Standing patiently in line for rationed goods and maintaining a “stiff upper lip” have been an unenviable “badge of courage” which has been the signature of our British cousins in the past. There is also an almost unique phenomenon in Britain which relates to the remarkable degree of trust automatically given (traditionally) to all professionals (government, law and medicine). In health care this explains a long-time supercilious attitude toward patients not counteracted by appropriate medical oversight. The really tough question for the new millennium is: how long will England continue to tolerate the chronic disrespectful behavior and continually declining quality and service of its “Health Service”?

The British prescription for health care continues to be typified by the phrase “Take A Seat.” There is a remarkable complacency among a population which readily accepts the notorious British National Health Service (HNS) waiting lists for necessary hospital treatment. As the 20th century ended there were 1.12 million ever-suffering souls patiently waiting for needed hospitalization. This appears to be the price for “free care. One usually gets what one pays for. There is no doubt but that disabled Americans would be a great deal more impatient regarding their desire for prompt quality service than our British cousins.

The British Health Service continues to announce that the official list of those waiting for care is shrinking. This is simply not so; what has happened is that waiting lists to get on waiting lists have been created. After waiting to be seen by a family physician a British patient incapacitated with a spine problem may have to linger for more than a year to see a specialist. It is up to the specialist to determine the urgency of the case and to order any specialized tests. After the wait for the tests and the results (often a process of months) the next wait, of about a year, for surgery begins. Are things getting better? As of May, 2001 all indications were that the British National Health Service continued to “languish from bureaucracy, demoralization and capricious medical fads” (clearly not a formula for success). ( Lawlor S: Britian’s Nationalized Medicine Needs Doctoring, The Wall Street Journal Europe, May 3, 2001).

Are things better in Canada? A 1998 study by the Fraser Institute located in Vancouver suggests not. Fortunately our Canadian neighbors have the opportunity to opt-out and “escape” their Federal Health Program by bolting across the border. On August 30, 2001 the Wall Street Journal reported that the British National Health Service had nearly one million patients waiting for treatment (40,000 of these waiting for surgery for over a year) and they have officially announced that henceforth the NHS will start paying patients to travel across the English channel for treatment in the European Union countries.

Socialized health care systems typically address the best interests of the state rather than the individual. The urge by these political entities to cling to unworkable and discredited policies is the stuff of legend. Tight financial controls in Japan have kept their medical costs to about 7% of their Gross National Product (GNP). The Japanese, however, also only get what they pay for. In the United States in 1996 26,200 patients were treated with defibrillators as a life-saving device. Japan (with half of the United States’ population) treated only 100 such patients because such devices are rare in Japan. Many other important medical devices such as cardiac stents and other sophisticated implants are also not usually available. Because of artificially low, government mandated, physician

Leroy Leroy

Business Owner asked:


FSA = use it or lose it.

Why would you buy into an FSA

HSA = rollover year after year

Please explain to me the benefits of an FSA over an HSA.

Brendon Lascody

Rachel M asked:


My mother has battled health problems for years (Crohns and Essential Thrombocytosis). She never qualified for SSD becuase she hadn’t worked in many years (stay at home mom). 2 years ago she was able to go back to work. Recently she had to take FMLA becuase of vascualar problems (surgery, therapy) and now physically can not work.

What programs are available to assist her (if any) with benefits and/or finances)? I am her daughter, and supporting her has drained my savings account, not sure what else to do at this point.

Side note, previously when she was stay at home mom, my father had a good job, which he has since lost. That is why my mom need income and benefits.

Trent Pemberton

Tom S asked:


(1) Trillions spent on TARP, bailing out the private and public banks and insurance companies (Bank of America, AIG, Fannie Mae, CitiGroup etc). We get higher banking fees, deceptive loans and credit cards, closing equity lines of credit, and 0.25% interest in our “equity builder” savings accounts in return.

(2) A trillion or more, to be spent over 10 years on a publicly run health care system. Can the government do a better job than private insurance companies? What about pre-existing conditions? Will we still be scared to go to the doctor (and get over-billed)?

(3) Or the stimulus package. 30000 jobs created for a trillion dollars. Cash for clunkers, $8000 for first time home buyers, and we all see $13 more in our weekly paychecks?

So which is the best use of our money?

Ailene Lane

$so fresh so clean$ (3 for 3) asked:


Republicans:
pros- low taxes, national security, pro business, promotes self-savings accounts
cons- promotes war, anti abortion, uses religion for advantage, weak on education

Democrats:
pros- health care, social security, programs for poor, economy, pro-choice, education
cons- raises taxes, too much spending, weak on border security, slow passing policies, make promises and don’t keep them, too contradictory

Kerry Henrikson

Water Over Gold asked:


When CBO said the first healthcare bill would raise costs, Democrats claimed CBO didn’t look at all the *potential* cost savings. (Schumer, D-NY, even said the projection was “wacky”)

But when CBO uses THE SAME SCORING SYSTEM to say this current bill would *potentially* cut costs over time, Democrats hail it as proof this roughly $900 billion bill reduce the deficit and save people money.

What do you make of this?? Isn’t the CBO simply PROJECTING (guessing based on information available) and then the politicians spin the news to their advantage??

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=akyC7XoVI7EU

“Our preference far and away is for a bipartisan bill,” Schumer said. “If we can’t come to a bipartisan agreement, the Finance Committee will report out a Democratic bill.”

The New York senator said the CBO’s assessment that health-care costs would rise under legislation being considered by congressional Democrats doesn’t take into account savings from preventive care and efficiencies in the system.

“CBO’s scoring is a little bit wacky,” Schumer said of the nonpartisan agency’s estimates. “They are not quite fair because they don’t measure the cost savings down the road, just the immediate spending.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=akyC7XoVI7EU
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said that Majority Leader Harry Reid’s 10-year, $848-billion bill would produce a net reduction of $130 billion in federal deficits in its first decade. Perhaps more significantly, the legislation would continue to give back over the next 10 years and beyond, the budget umpires said, because “added revenues and cost savings would probably be greater” than the cost of covering uninsured Americans.

The budget office put a big asterisk on its forecast, using words like “imprecision” and “uncertainty” to describe the long-range projection. It noted that, overall, health care spending remains on an unsustainable path.

However, the bill would not make matters any worse, and maybe even a little better.

With President Barack Obama pledging to tamp down ruinous health care costs, Democrats took the new CBO estimates to the bank, while skipping over the caveats. At a noontime rally with supporters, Reid, D-Nev., said the legislation would “save lives, save money and save Medicare.”

Standing shoulder to shoulder with other Democrats, Reid evoked a Democratic president who had tried to overhaul health care — Harry S. Truman — and said the bill “is not just a milestone in a journey of a few months or a few years. We have been working to reform health care since the first half of the last century.”
zap…………….I know what bill passed. THE POINT: CBO (the same people that scored the first) are scoring the second as well.

Carrie