Gov. Stitt on Fox Business now...

[trekrok]

You have to understand something.....there are no "obamacare" plans.......there are plans that are compliant with the law.... and that is all of the new available healthcare plans. You will find those on the exchange or carrier websites. It doesn't matter if do it on the govt website or not, the offerings are the same with regards to the carriers offerings. So any BCBS given offering on the government exchange will be the same as going direct to the carrier.

I believe you have to have 2 total employees to have a employer plan but that may have changed. Either way, most HSA certified plans would probably fit what you need, if you're used to paying an amount of cash before the deductible.

Watch this here for more info...



It's a decent video but he does miss some points, as highlighted here by one of the first comments to the video.


Dave does a poor job of making a key point clear in this discussion - that an HSA is NOT an insurance plan - it is a savings account. Contributions to the account are made possible by participation in a particular type of insurance plan - a Qualifying High Deductible Health Plan (QHDHP). Some important things to remember about an HSA are these; (1) The money that goes into an HSA is yours. Forever. Period. You can use it for qualifying medial expenses without paying taxes on it. If you change jobs, change insurance, etc, you still get to keep your HSA. (2) As long as you are covered by a QHDHP, you can contribute up to the IRS allowed maximum ($7,000 for a family in 2019), but you are not REQUIRED to contribute a dime. It's a SAVINGS account! (3) If you are only covered by a QHDHP for part of the year, you can contribute that percentage for which you had QHDP coverage, so for example if you have a QHDP for 6 months you could contribute $3500 in 2019. If you have a QHDP for 3 months in 2019 you can contribute $1750. (4) If you lose your insurance or change jobs and your new employer does not offer a QHDHP, you can still keep your HSA, and use any funds that are in it for QMEs, but you can not CONTRIBUTE to it until you are again covered by a QHDHP. (5) You can contribute to your HSA at any time during the year. You do NOT have to make contributions with each paycheck. You can wait and make one lump-sum contribution at the end of the year (technically, through April 15 of the following year) if you so choose. (6) Contributions made to your HSA are not taxed. They are an "above the line" deduction, meaning that it's like you never earned the money when it comes time to figure your taxes. So, if your gross for the 2019 is $100,000 but you contribute $7,000 to your HSA, your taxes will be figured based on $93,000.

By obamacare I mean health insurance plans that comply with ACA. I didn't see any QHDHP plans, certainly not any plans that were significantly cheaper on premium. I selected one of the cheaper plans, $5k deductible I think with 15-16k family out of pocket. Basically, we've never seen a dime from the insurance for the last several years. I'll check some more and see if HSA makes sense. Thanks for the link.

 

[JD8]

By obamacare I mean health insurance plans that comply with ACA. I didn't see any QHDHP plans, certainly not any plans that were significantly cheaper on premium. I selected one of the cheaper plans, $5k deductible I think with 15-16k family out of pocket. Basically, we've never seen a dime from the insurance for the last several years. I'll check some more and see if HSA makes sense. Thanks for the link.

With regards to if it makes sense? Well, you're already paying for the high deductible plan, you might as well save some money on taxes. Even if the premium was dead even, you're still ahead with the HSA plan.

 

[trekrok]

With regards to if it makes sense? Well, you're already paying for the high deductible plan, you might as well save some money on taxes. Even if the premium was dead even, you're still ahead with the HSA plan.

Premium for the plan is already deductible. So I guess I could put an additional amount in an HSA to cover out of pocket amounts due to 'high' deductible? I'm not seeing a definite benefit unless I can lower the premium amount by doing it. I'll dig in a little more and see. I hate this crap as much as taxes.

 

[HoLeChit]

Drastically. I used to loath the VA.
If your options are pay for nothing or wait for something I’ll go with something.

I second the remarks about the VA. Yeah, I didn’t like them starting out, but over time I figured out how it works and I’m a big fan. I see two specialty providers and two therapists on a regular basis, on top of regular bloodwork and other normal doctor stuff. I also get 4 prescriptions and am waiting for a sleep study and fitting for a cpap. I pay $0 for all of this. It can be difficult to get help at times, but you just gotta know how to make it work for you. I feel like I get just as good of care from the VA as I have in the past from civilian, paid stuff. My old lady pays thousands of dollars for insurance, and still pays for treatments and such. It’s crap.

 

[TerryMiller]

I tried getting "registered" with the VA, but the wife and my combined incomes (pension and SS) puts us over a "limit" on income. In other words, the VA wouldn't "accept" me. So, while I am a veteran, I apparently can't get any assistance from the VA for medical. The only benefit I've had from being a veteran was buying a home on the VA plan.

There is a veteran's assistance facility out west of the Riverwind casino, but since the Covid thing hit, that center hasn't been open, so I can't go there and see if they can help me out.