Anyone have a HSA (Health Savings Account)?

[ponyo]

Can you use the money in the HSA account to pay for your deductible on your health insurance policy? Say the plan has $3k deductible and you've $3k saved up in your HSA.

 

[Fritzo]

No you can't. You CAN however use the money in your HSA for anything health related tax free. Therefore you can get boob implants without 25% going to Uncle Sam

 

[Dubb]

When I was job hunting a few months ago, I was told that the HSA one firm offered could be used to pay deductibles and other helath related expenses.

Didn't take that job so I'm not positive.

 

[jersiq]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
No you can't. You CAN however use the money in your HSA for anything health related tax free. Therefore you can get boob implants without 25% going to Uncle Sam

You should check your plan for the specifics.
My employers plan will not allow you to apply the account to Gym memberships for example. Although health related, they do draw the line somewhere.

I use one, but with two toddlers, it gets used up pretty quickly. Already this year I've had 2 ER visits, and 3 unplanned Pediatrician visits.

Edit for clarity.

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
No you can't. You CAN however use the money in your HSA for anything health related tax free. Therefore you can get boob implants without 25% going to Uncle Sam

Are you sure? Because I've been doing some research and reading online after I posted the question, and every source is saying you can pay your deductible with the HSA funds.

I'm self-employed so I'll be setting up the fund myself. Looking at Kaiser for the HDHP and Vanguard for the HSA account.

 

[LordSnailz]

Not sure if you can use it for your deductible but I love my HSA acct. You can use it towards LASIK, accupunture and all this stuff. Works the best if you're single and don't sick a lot. The price to add a dependent goes way up compared to one single person.

 

[Fritzo]

Every source I'm seeing says you can not use HSA funds to pay a high deductible premium.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Naustica

Originally posted by: Fritzo
No you can't. You CAN however use the money in your HSA for anything health related tax free. Therefore you can get boob implants without 25% going to Uncle Sam

Are you sure? Because I've been doing some research and reading online after I posted the question, and every source is saying you can pay your deductible with the HSA funds.

I'm self-employed so I'll be setting up the fund myself. Looking at Kaiser for the HDHP and Vanguard for the HSA account.

HSA is a federal program, and you can use it for everything from mouthwash to bandaids to lasik surgery...pretty much any health related item you want. You just have to justify it to the IRS if audited (which never happens), so keep your reciepts.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
No you can't. You CAN however use the money in your HSA for anything health related tax free. Therefore you can get boob implants without 25% going to Uncle Sam

depends on plan.

 

[rivan]

We use our HSA for tons of stuff - copays, prescriptions, the wife's glasses (huge expense there), even some of the over the counter stuff we buy... children's tylenol, advil, etc.

 

[Queasy]

I have an HSA through my job. It makes sense because they contribute the first $1,200 every year to my account and I add the rest. The first $3000 or so (I forget the exact amount) I pay with the money from my HSA account. If I don't spend it, I get to keep it. After $3000, it becomes a 20/80 (I pay the 20, insurance pays the 80). After $6000 or so insurance pays the full amount.

The first year I had it was rough because my son had a lot of asthma issues that year. We went through the first $3000 in two months because of all the doctor visits. He's been much better this year so far though.

 

[nonameo]

Uh.... you can use the money from an HSA to pay for any kind of medical expense. I think you can even use it to buy OTC medications.

It wouldn't cover a gym membership because it's not a medical expense. Q-tips? I'm not sure if it would cover those or not. I guess it could be argued.

Also, you most definitely can use the HSA money to pay on the deductible. That is the whole point behind the HSA. You get a lower price plan with a higher deductible, and use the money you save to pay that deductible.

Also, if you become unemployed, you can even use the money from the HSA to pay your premium for a certain amount of time.

 

[AndrewR]

Stupid question from someone who just started an HSA: How do you access the money? I no longer have military medical care and am still learning and re-learning the civilian medical maze.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: nonameo
Uh.... you can use the money from an HSA to pay for any kind of medical expense. I think you can even use it to buy OTC medications.

It wouldn't cover a gym membership because it's not a medical expense. Q-tips? I'm not sure if it would cover those or not. I guess it could be argued.

Also, you most definitely can use the HSA money to pay on the deductible. That is the whole point behind the HSA. You get a lower price plan with a higher deductible, and use the money you save to pay that deductible.

Also, if you become unemployed, you can even use the money from the HSA to pay your premium for a certain amount of time.

You can use it to pay the deductible, but not the premium. That's what I was thinking of.

 

[Squisher]

It was weird I went to CVS the other day and it denied a payment for Ocean Nasal Spray, yet when I went to drugstore.com there were 2 other brands of saline nasal sprays were eligible. WTF I called the administrator of the plan and they said it was a problem with the CVS computers. I dunno, I might call CVS corporate or I might just switch to Walgreens.

 

[iamwiz82]

We both have one setup. Our company matches our deposit up to $200, so we save a ton versus paying for the crappy vision coverage.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: rivan
We use our HSA for tons of stuff - copays, prescriptions, the wife's glasses (huge expense there), even some of the over the counter stuff we buy... children's tylenol, advil, etc.

Prescription flat screen tv

 

[Kelemvor]

You can use it for any healthcare related expenses including deductibles, co-pays, Tylenol, contact solution, etc.

 

[tynopik]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
How do you access the money?

it depends on the plan

some will give you a debit card
some will give you checks
some will have you pay out of pocket and then you fill out a form to get reimbursed
or some combination thereof

the key thing is that you can pay for everything out of pocket and then save the receipts across MULTIPLE YEARS to pull money out when you need it. Money in HSAs is actually triple-tax-advantaged, it goes in pre-tax, it grows tax free and it can be spent tax free (on qualified medical expenses). It can NOT be used to pay premiums in most cases, but it CAN be used to pay medicare premiums. Also there is no penalty for withdrawing money after age 65 (although it is taxed if used for non-medical purposes), so you can basically use it like an IRA.

in the mean time it can be growing taxfree in a mutual fund or a 5% savings account or whatever

watch out for monthly fees, annual fees, inactivity fees, lousy interest rates, requiring $3000 in a low/no interest account before you can invest anything, massive expense ratios

there aren't many competitive providers out there

'reasonable' investment plan (still fairly high expense ratios on their funds)
http://www.saturna.com/hsa1.htm

patelco offers 5.12% on their hsa
http://patelco.com/accounts/hsa.aspx

chubbywallet has a big faq thread in the finance section (title search 'hsa')

you can get any hsa compatible plan (for instance search eHealthInsurance.com for hsa compatible plans) and then have your actual hsa account with anyone you like

for instance you could have a Blue Cross HDHP and then use the Patelco HSA

also if you have other questions, google for 'HSA Road Rules', there are various versions out there, so be sure to find the latest (5th edition maybe?)

 

[AndrewR]

Originally posted by: tynopik

Originally posted by: AndrewR
How do you access the money?

it depends on the plan

some will give you a debit card
some will give you checks
some will have you pay out of pocket and then you fill out a form to get reimbursed
or some combination thereof

the key thing is that you can pay for everything out of pocket and then save the receipts across MULTIPLE YEARS to pull money out when you need it. Money in HSAs is actually triple-tax-advantaged, it goes in pre-tax, it grows tax free and it can be spent tax free (on qualified medical expenses). It can NOT be used to pay premiums in most cases, but it CAN be used to pay medicare premiums. Also there is no penalty for withdrawing money after age 65 (although it is taxed if used for non-medical purposes), so you can basically use it like an IRA.

in the mean time it can be growing taxfree in a mutual fund or a 5% savings account or whatever

watch out for monthly fees, annual fees, inactivity fees, lousy interest rates, requiring $3000 in a low/no interest account before you can invest anything, massive expense ratios

there aren't many competitive providers out there

'reasonable' investment plan (still fairly high expense ratios on their funds)
http://www.saturna.com/hsa1.htm

patelco offers 5.12% on their hsa
http://patelco.com/accounts/hsa.aspx

chubbywallet has a big faq thread in the finance section (title search 'hsa')

you can get any hsa compatible plan (for instance search eHealthInsurance.com for hsa compatible plans) and then have your actual hsa account with anyone you like

for instance you could have a Blue Cross HDHP and then use the Patelco HSA

also if you have other questions, google for 'HSA Road Rules', there are various versions out there, so be sure to find the latest (5th edition maybe?)

I'm using whatever the government offers federal employees. I suspect it's a reimbursement program, which answers my question. Thanks for the good information! :thumbsup:

 

[tynopik]

Originally posted by: AndrewR
I'm using whatever the government offers federal employees. I suspect it's a reimbursement program, which answers my question. Thanks for the good information! :thumbsup:

even if your health insurace is through the government, it may be possible (and desirable) to have your HSA separately

 

[Pepsei]

i used my flex spending account to pay for everything.... even OTC, got buckets of otc from sams club near the end of the year and when i have a few hundreds left over.