What Bank Offers Best Health Savings Account?

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by cdelena

Because we have regular medical expenses but not quite enough to qualify for a deduction. Therefore we use the HSA to pay for medical tax free. Isn't that what the system is designed for?

It was designed to be used for both insurance eligible and non-insurance eligible (but still health related) expenses. There is a long list of eligible expenses that HSA funds can be used to pay for that the IRS has. I believe it is the IRS Code Section 105 list but it would be easy enough to find on the IRS website. The idea was to put money aside to cover your deductible should you need to pay for it as well as these other expenses that insurance didn't necessarily cover.

HSA plans are great for another reason. Since you are paying for your initial medical espenses, people with HSA plans are much more inclined to shop around for lower rates.

For example, a client who has a small group United Healthcare plan with a high deductible that he had not met yet called me and asked if I'd find out what the in network "discounted" reimbursement rate was for a particular MRI he needed to have. I found out it was going to be $1200 (or some rediculous amount). Then it dawned on me to go on-line and do a search for "low cost MRIs" and I enterred the city and state. Lo and behold, I found stand alone MRI centers within an hour's drive that only charged $250 to $475 for MRIs. Just recently I read a Wall Street Journal article that said people in Tokyo have MRIs often because they are only $98 there.

Over many years of being in the health insurance field, I learned that basically, the providers will charge whatever they can get away with. It is UP TO YOU to shop around, educate yourself as to what is fair and not let yourself be taken advantage of. The "in-network" rate may NOT turn out to be the best rate you can get. A client told me that she needed to have her thyroid tested regularly. She said one clinic would charge her $85 and another a few blocks away charged $300 for the exact same test.

BUYER BEWARE. Many medical providers are the biggest rip off artists around and nobody wants to point any fingers at them because they are so intimidated by them. Instead they seem to prefer to shut their eyes and just hope that the insurance company will pay the whole thing. When they don't, rather than researching to see if the providers were gouging, they blame the wrong party - the insurance company.

The moral of the story is: the only way medical costs will come down is if we refuse to pay such exhorbitant rates to providers - whether directly or through insurance. The way to lower rates is to shop around. Tell the providers who are gouging their rates aren't competitive. Ask for discounts for cash. My old dentist always offered a 10% discount for cash. After all, you are saving the provider numerous hours spend sending in medical records to justify something as small as a $60 follow-up office visit. If you aren't close to meeting your deductible, it is very reasonable and worth it for the doctor to give you a discount for cash.

It is way past time to get PROACTIVE! Don't just be satisfied if the insurance company will pay the charges; learn what a fair rate for the service is and insist that the insurance company only pay the lower rate. Remember, INDIRECTLY you are paying. Don't buy into the mantra that health insurers always give that medical costs are rising. They are only rising because people are stupid enough to pay them as well as pay the escalating insurance rates.

It isn't like we are getting our money's worth. Cancer rates used to be one in 300 when I was little. Now they are one in two.The medical establishment wants it that way. The sicker Americans are, the more opportunity they have to make money off of their illnesses. People have to learn how to stop being victimized by the system. They need to learn natural safe inexpensive ways to get and stay healthy. They need to discover that they DON'T have to be on prescription drugs all their lives. Therefore they may not "need" insurance to "cover their prescriptions" as I have been told time and time again by prospective clients. People need to realize there are better, less expensive and safer alternatives that have stood the test of time. The good news is their so called "incurable" (by conventional doctors) disease, they need to begin to realize, is reversable by Traditional Natural medicine. ......but that is another thread --except for the fact that HSA funds can be used to cover the costs of many practitioners of natural medicine where most insurance WON'T cover them.