Anyone have any Pro's/Con's on HRA's

[VWhed]

I am not a person who uses insurance frequently, but I currently have a PPO and the company is sorta pushing this HRA thing. I am just curious of any "pitfalls" you folks may have expierienced.

 

[GasX]

Don't put too much in the account and keep your insurance records.

 

[mlm]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
Don't put too much in the account and keep your insurance records.

Are you thinking of an HSA? When I had an HRA, only the employer contributed to the reserve.

My HRA was pretty good. Even if you had a real insurance plan, you could use the HRA to pay off the deductibles (but not the premiums). The only annoying part was the lag between paying out of pocket and then getting the reimbursement.

 

[VWhed]

They are gonna give us a Mastercard and put like $1000 per person/spouse/dependent on it, which "rolls-over" each year. I think there is like a $2000 out of pocket maximum, but things like having a baby, some kind of screwed up accident, etc. would eat up the $1000 pretty quick and then I have to come up with $2000 and that sux. I think the ppo we have now is better, but the HRA is cheaper for the employer.

 

[mlm]

Originally posted by: VWhed
They are gonna give us a Mastercard and put like $1000 per person/spouse/dependent on it, which "rolls-over" each year. I think there is like a $2000 out of pocket maximum, but things like having a baby, some kind of screwed up accident, etc. would eat up the $1000 pretty quick and then I have to come up with $2000 and that sux. I think the ppo we have now is better, but the HRA is cheaper for the employer.

Wow... and I thought my company was cheap! We were getting around $150 a month which was later reduced to $130 a month for a single person (I didn't have any dependents, so I don't know about that) once they added an option for insurance. There were no such things as maximums, we just couldn't exceed our balance when we turned in our claims. If we wanted to, we could hold onto the receipts until there would be enough money in the account to cover it.

 

[VWhed]

I have the option to stay with the PPO this year for free, but next year they may make us pay for the PPO (like $10 a week or so). At this point I think that is what I will do. I agree that something needs to be done to help employers deal with rising healthcare costs, but I don't think this is the best answer........