Health Savings Account-Health Savings Account Info

iamloco724 asked:


im on state health insurance right now cause i am unemployed..i just recently inherited some money plus was given some as a gift if i open a savings account with this money will this cause me a problem on my health insurance

Sammy Koogler

Dolores asked:


I read that thanks to Obama care, Americans will no longer be able to use Health Savings account (pre-tax dollars) to purchase non-prescription, over the counter medicines (except insulin)

Philip

raynics82 asked:


Recently my employer got even cheaper and decided to dump united health care in favor of Aetna. Of course, not caring that Aetna doesn’t cover squat for employees, it saves them on the premiums monthly. However, my weekly 50 payment remains the same, and now a monthly prescription United covered 34 dollars a month on, Aetna now covers 3 bucks on! I am very healthy and have never had Health insurance until I moved to Taxachusetts. Now taking roughly 50 a week, and only saving me 3 dollars a month doesn’t make a lot of sense. So I’m pretty much handing over 2600 bucks a year, and in turn saving 36 dollars a year. Thank You Mass! I’m thinking of dumping my health insurance and paying the fine of 912 during tax season. I’ll just take the 50 a week and put it in my own seperate personal Health account. In my eyes, it saves me 1688 a year, and that is money back. Not lining the pockets of these insurance giants. If something bad were to happen to me, I could just get a loan to pay off the bills, unless i had enough saved in the seperate account itself to pay it off by then. It appears to me that is a win win. Is it a smart move? or is there another option? Health insurance companies are such a scam, and the gov’t is helping in mass. Forced customers.

Travis Howry

dolphin314etc asked:


These are 50 million people who are uninsurable either because they have conditions that no insurance company in their right mind is willing to take on as a risk, or because they simply don’t have any money. Most of them don’t have addresses, or documentation, or checking accounts. So it’s hard to know how one would collect premiums from them under any plan public or private.

But if the government pays their premium for them, aren’t we really talking about “Free Medical Care for the Indigent”

Why do we need the euphamism of an health insurance program, aren’t we kidding ourselves by saying that.

If pre-existing conditions cannot be used to deny coverage, then it’s not a bet, it’s a gift. Free medical care is being given to people in exchange for precisely nothing. It’s a Freebie. Not an insurance program.

All insurance is a bet. You can’t get fire insurance after your house has burned down. You can’t get auto insurance after you’ve crashed your car. So what sort of health insurance can you get after you have some terrible very expensive illness? None! That’s right!

Insurance is a bet not a gift. The company on the other end of the contract is betting you won’t get sick and you are betting that you will. But if you are sick, all we can talk about is Freebie healthcare for you, we can’t really talk about insurance — no rational company would ever make the bet.

So this is sort of like the Bad Bank that was supposed to take all those toxic mortgages. This is the Crazy Government Health insurance provider, that insures the uninsurable and then pays their premiums for them. It’s 100% gift.

Where does the money come from? From draining the Medicare Trust Fund — which working people have paid into by their FICA taxes for 40 years, and now are hoping to have as a financial bulwark in their retirement years.

Where does the money go? It goes to the ACORN street people, the people with no addresses, the people with no ID, the people who are sick, and real sick, and not likely to be made well anytime soon by any amount of healthcare no matter how lavishly provided.

And you can be sure that under a public option, these people will insist on getting everything.

So covering that 50 million is not going to be a cost saver. Especially if they can’t pay premiums. Getting every poor person a 50 pound bar of gold would not be a cost saver. Building a fine mansion for every street person would not be a cost saver. The arithmetic here is not complex — zero money in, hundreds of trillions out, you’re not saving money. Go back to business school, try again.

The money for the poorest of the poor has to come from somewhere. The Medicare Trust Fund will be raided, drained, and gone. So, all those retirees will be robbed, larcenized, and dishonorably deprived of their bargain with Uncle Sam. In the end, the money will be exhausted, and the Obama Version of Uncle Sam will come out a spiv and a deadbeat with no ability to do anything. Even the ACORN people won’t get any more blood out of that turnip.

Hopefully in two weeks, the whole Obama-Care thing will go down the drain. Washington will know that Americans won’t sit still for it. And they shouldn’t — it is an outrage of larceny most vile.
For July:

1. Compassion is rarely a prime ingredient in long-term good policy, which ordinarily is based on sustainable cash flows that at least come out even.

2. Medical bankrupcy is not fiscally sound as a way of handling the risk of illness striking a less-than-rich person. I’m not against any solution to the health insurance problem. I’m against the Howard Dean/Barack Obama solution as presented so far.

3. Unless you have an MBA with honors from a top school, a JD, and twenty five years experience as a Federal Trial lawyer and policy assistant, I don’t think you are more educated than me, even if you do smell good, which for the sake of argument, I will accept as a fact.

4. I have proposed free primary care clinics located near emergency room entrances, staffed by doctors on the Federal payroll. I have proposed tort reform to get lawyers off the back of the medical profession. And, I have proposed that the corporate tax deduction for employee health plans be eliminated.

Glenn Reisher

dolphin314etc asked:


The subsidies would be for a limited class of taxpayers — persons whose adjusted gross income was under $25,000 per year.

They would be in the form of a refundable tax credit for a certain percentage of the premiums paid out by the taxpayer (based on cancelled checks stapled to the 1040 Form).

They could only be reimbursed if their health insurance company was on a the Adequately Trusted Health Insurors (ATHI) List. Taxpayers who insure with any firm not on the ATHI list don’t get to claim the refundable tax credit, even if they can show cancelled checks for health insurance they paid for.

This provision — the ATHI list eliminates 90% of the would-be fraudsters, right at the starting line. 9 our of 10 system gamers don’t even get to play. The ATHI list should be strict but not too strict. It must include most of the insurors, but eliminate let’s say the bottom quartile — the Least Trusted 25% — because they are known to be thieves, suspected of being incompetent, corrupt, or litigitous, or because they don’t offer an acceptable insurance product — it’s too limited, too small, too twisted to be of any good to anybody. Government should not pay for that. So the ATHI list is key. The Fed could start by asking the State Governors for consultative advice. They could put the list together in less than a year, for sure, and it would be pretty fair and reasonable, with procedures in place to appeal adverse determinations.

This program is based on the idea that “You get More of Things You Subsidize”.

What we want more of is people paying for and getting decent health insurance.

OK, so that is what we subsidize. Very precisely that. Laser beam targeting. Narrowly focused on the objective. We could call it Management by Objectives, wow what an idea!

The idea would be to start small and affordable — say the subsidy level is initially set at 25% of the taxpayers out of pocket insurance costs.

Is that going to attract everybody? No, but that’s OK. It’s enough to get a working cohort of program participants in the door so we can see what the effects are. Does this save money? Does it create a lot more insured people, or just a few. How much is saved by not having them among the uninsured?

OK — 24 months have gone by — it works! The group likes it — is happy to have the reimbursement, and the healthcare providers are saying nice things about the idea.

So, we ramp it up — let’s say to 50% reimbursement. See how many more people that brings in. See how much more money we save — by having more insured people. Study the probably point of optimization for this program.

Let’s say the study says — “Don’t ramp it up any more.” OK, then we don’t.

Let’s say the math boffins tell us go ahead all the way to 100%, you will make money by doing that.” OK, so that’s what we do.

:Let’s call this reality-based policy (Technically in science, it is called the Monte Carlo Method — the theory is developed straight out of incoming experimental data which we have no hypothesis about one way or the other as we begin the experiment).

You get more of things you subsidize. The shortest distance between two points is a straight intention to get it done. We want more people to buy healthcare insurance? Do we need Albert Einstein here to figure this out for us?

The management concept used here is called disjointed incrementalism. You try a little, see how it goes, then decide what to do next. It’s really just the opposite of Obama Care which is Holistic Totalitarianism that runs in and steals people Medicare accounts to pay for Barack and ACORN’s street people whose eyes are on the prize (of your cash).

This idea is workable, modest, scalable, affordable, targeted, and highly likely to get the results it seeks. That’s what good policy looks like. The West Wing wouldn’t know good policy if it bit them on the a&$.

Why not print this out and send it to Barry? Ask him, “Why not the best?”

Ouida Domowicz

Ms. Curious asked:


I am 22 yrs old, nearsighted by -1.0 “somthing-meter” (forgot what it’s called). It’s gets harder to read text starting from more than a meter away. Just had my first eye exam last week & got glasses. Then I got a Lasik consultation and eye doc says come back in 6 months to see that prescription is stable. She explains that there is a finite amout of the stuff on the eye that can be “cut” (so does that mean I should “save it” for when I get to my 40′s??).

My benefits enrollment deadline is in two days and I’m trying to decide right now if I want to transfer about $3,000 over to my flex-spend health care account, which would kinda save me 30% that IRS would tax me on otherwise. But, I have to use it or I lose it.

It’s not all about money, but…. I dunno if I should get Lasik. I may get sick of glasses very soon and love the idea of waking up and seeing perfectly! Please, please advise.

Gricelda Pilkenton

Johnathan F asked:


There has been alot of talk about healthcare in this country as of late and strong arguements about if universal healthcare would be a good thing or not . as someone with a pre existing condition no health care insurance will take me and if they do it is at a huge rate. Tax breaks or health saving accounts would do no good my meds cost $1500 a dose( i suffer from hemophilla)… so what am i and other like me supposed to do under bush’s plan?… and is there a better way without resorting to universal heathcare and turning us into france or canada?…..oh yes and comments about me just dieing as a solution do not count.

Claudine Matuszak

LBC asked:


I am 22 years old. I guess to make a really complicated long story a little shorter, all hell broke loose in the last couple of years and a series of the most unfortunate events happened. Four of my relatives died, there were problems with family members being laid off in a family business, I had the misfortune of being in a major car accident. At the time I was going to college. Since then, I have lost alot of hope so to speak.

At the time I was healthy and took my health insurance for granted. It expired, I really never had any major health issues, thought to save money and didnt immediately look into any plans. Of course one week later I got really sick, the sickest Ive ever been. It ended up resorting to the most incredibly hellish series of doctors visits. I saw five doctors. The only real diagnosis was in urgent care – “a viral infection”, the antibiotics they gave me didnt help at all. This eventually led to ambulance trip to the emergency room where they did many tests, found nothing but a slightly abnormal blood cell count (which apparently wasnt anything to look into). Nothing life threatening. The doctor took account of my records, I was hospitalized for depression as a teen and have a anxiety issue. To get to the point – he diagnosed me with ‘mental altered state’, and since, the idea of seeing a doctor with whats on my medical records and with no insurance seems futile. (I paid the bills off with my money out of pocket).

A year later I am experiencing even more dizziness, have developed swollen lymph nodes, sensation of shooting pains up the arm/shoulder area, jaw pain, am very tired, and still have a extremely aggravating worrisome pain in the gland/sinus area, sleep alot + some other symptoms. Its ruining my life. I want to go out, get an job, live life – but I havent been able to even take a walk for an hour without feeling dizzy or getting tired easily.

I know that its because of my own idiocy that this happened and deserve it. But Ive gotten over the anger with myself, I am sorry I took my health for granted, and just want to figure out a real diagnosis. I want to know what Im dealing with and find a solution.

I know that this reform bill doesnt allow insurance companies to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. Does that include mental conditions, or am I basically still not gonna be applicable for insurance?

Jonah Grant

neaklie asked:


I am a self sufficient 24 year old. I have a decent paying job, I am out on my own and making my way through college. My company decided 3 years ago to switch to an HSA (Health Savings Account) where I have to pay for every medical expence out of pocket until I meet my $1600.00 deductable each year on top of my ridiculously high paycheck deduction for insurance. I do have mediocre medical issues that are out of my control and require dr visits and medication that I have to take daily. I have a hard time paying back these visits because it is always the deductable being met within my first 2 dr visits. That is alot of money to pay all at once, and I just dont have that freely hanging out in my bank. So I work out payments plans, but things come up that cause issues with getting the payments out like I had planned to. Now my medical which I have no control over is ruining my credit! There must be something out there where medical expenses shouldnt effect your credit. Its not like I intentionally went out and got a credit card and never paid it. I HAD to go to the dr and I cannot control what they charge. I am just looking for any advice on how to help this.. I had great credit and always was proud of it but now I just dont know what to do. I dont have $2500.00 to pay out right now to take it off. It medical! I just dont get how they can do this to people…

Fumiko Blouir

Johnee asked:


Sources: House Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor committees; Kaiser Family Foundation

(CNN) — President Obama signed sweeping health care reform into law today. The Senate must now pass a package of changes that will reconcile the differences between Senate and House bills. If those changes are worked out, here is how health care reforms will affect you:

Within the first year

• Young adults will be able stay on their parents’ insurance until their 27th birthday.

• Seniors will get a $250 rebate to help fill the “doughnut hole” in Medicare prescription drug coverage, which falls between the $2,700 initial limit and when catastrophic coverage kicks in at $6,154.

• Insurers will be barred from imposing exclusions on children with pre-existing conditions. Pools will cover those with pre-existing health conditions until health care coverage exchanges are operational.

• Insurers will not be able to rescind policies to avoid paying medical bills when a person becomes ill.

• Lifetime limits on benefits and restrictive annual limits will be prohibited.

• New plans must provide coverage for preventive services without co-pays. All plans must comply by 2018.

• A temporary reinsurance program will help offset costs of coverage for companies that provide early retiree health benefits for those ages 55 to 64.

• New plans will be required to implement an appeals process for coverage determinations and claims.

• Adoption tax credit and assistance exclusion will increase by $1,000. The bill makes the credit refundable and extends it through 2011.

• A 10 percent tax will be imposed on amounts paid for indoor tanning services on or after July 1.

• Businesses with fewer than 50 employees will get tax credits covering 35 percent of their health care premiums, increasing to 50 percent by 2014.

2011

• Medicare will provide free annual wellness visits and personalized prevention plans. New plans will be required to cover preventive services with no co-pay.

• States can offer home- and community-based services to the disabled through Medicaid rather than institutional care beginning October 1.

• A 50 percent discount will be provided on brand-name drugs for Prescription Drug Plan or Medicare Advantage enrollees. Additional discounts on brand-name and generic drugs will be phased in to completely close the “doughnut hole” by 2020.

• Additional tax for health savings account withdrawals before age 65 for nonqualified medical expenses will increase from 10 percent to 20 percent. Additional tax for Archer medical savings account withdrawals not used for qualified medical expenses will increase from 15 percent to 20 percent.

• A plan to provide a vehicle for small businesses to offer tax-free benefits will be created. This would ease the small employer’s administrative burden of sponsoring a cafeteria plan.

• The Medicare payroll tax will increase from 1.45 percent to 2.35 percent for individuals earning more than $200,000 and married filing jointly above $250,000.

2013

• Health plans must implement uniform standards for electronic exchange of health information to reduce paperwork and administrative costs.

• Contributions to flexible savings accounts will be limited to $2,500 per year, indexed by the Consumer Price Index in subsequent years.

• The Employer Medicare Part D subsidy deduction will be eliminated. Employers will lose the tax deduction for subsidizing prescription drug plans for Medicare Part D-eligible retirees.

• There will be increases to the income threshold from 7.5 percent to 10 percent of adjusted gross income. Those older than 65 can claim the 7.5 percent deduction through 2016.

• The hospital insurance tax will increase 0.9 percentage points for those earning more than $200,000 ($250,000 for married filing jointly), and it includes net investment income.

• A 2.9 percent excise tax on the first sale of medical devices will be established. Excepted are eyeglasses, contact lenses, hearing aids or other items for individual use.

2014

• Citizens will be required to have acceptable coverage or pay a penalty of $95 in 2014, $325 in 2015, $695 (or up to 2.5 percent of income) in 2016. Families will pay half the amount for children, up to a cap of $2,250 per family. After 2016, penalties are indexed to Consumer Price Index.

• Workers who are exempt from individual responsibility for coverage but don’t qualify for tax credits can take their employer contribution and join an exchange plan.

• Companies with 50 or more employees must offer coverage to employees or pay a $2,000 penalty per employee after their first 30 if at least one of their employees receives a tax credit. Waiting periods before insurance takes effect is limited to 90 days. Employers who offer coverage but whose employees receive tax credits will pay $3,000 for each worker receiving a tax credit.

• Insurers can no longer re
DID YOU SEE THE YEAR 2018? WOW I MILLION BUCKS!!!

Clint Hipolito