Advice on taking HSA-eligible insurance when in the middle of having babies

[mmmcdowe]

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Hey all,

Just curious what others have done. The HSA eligible plan at my hospital has substantially higher co-pays and yearly deductibles. We are relatively healthy as a family, but my hesitation has been the fact that with an actively growing family there might be some unforeseen albeit unlikely surgical/medical complications that might negate the value of the HSA. I already max out all other tax preferred accounts and have enough to contribute to the HSA max as well that is currently going into a non-preferred trading account. Anyone have any experience in this?

 

[thumbz]

So I did the math at my shop years ago - the lower biweekly premium coupled with the fact my hospital gives us $500 in matching into the HSA account makes it a dead wash between the traditional and HSA plans in terms of deductibles and out of pocket maximums. I think maybe the traditional is slightly ahead from out of pocket maximum, but it's < $500. So all it takes is one year of not needing it and you come out even or ahead.

Your mileage may vary, but keep this is mind when choosing. The traditional plan at my shop is a significantly higher monthly premium which is what makes the math make sense.

 

[abolt18]

My hospital's high deductible plan sucks, big time. They just started offering it this year. We ran all the numbers and it just didn't make sense for us to do the HDHP just for an HSA. As much as I'd like to have an HSA, it has to be worth it.

Having babies still MIGHT be a time when it's worth just forking over the money for the better plan that doesn't qualify for HSA. All it takes is a couple days in the NICU, or some sort of peripartum complication to screw up the whole thing.

Certainly depends on the different insurance plans available to you.

 

[mmmcdowe]

My hospital's high deductible plan sucks, big time. They just started offering it this year. We ran all the numbers and it just didn't make sense for us to do the HDHP just for an HSA. As much as I'd like to have an HSA, it has to be worth it.

Having babies still MIGHT be a time when it's worth just forking over the money for the better plan that doesn't qualify for HSA. All it takes is a couple days in the NICU, or some sort of peripartum complication to screw up the whole thing.

Certainly depends on the different insurance plans available to you.

I think we are in similar boats

 

[gutonc]

The bottom line here is that YMMV depending on the plans available to you. My current job has a HDHP+HSA and a PPO+FSA available. I chose the HDHP. The difference for me over the past 2 years (currently in my 3rd) for me with a healthy, now adult, kid and one chronic medical issue for me that uses an expensive biologic, has been basically a push. I came out a couple hundred ahead in my first year, a couple hundred behind last year and will likely be +/- $200 this year compared to what the PPO would cost me, not counting the tax advantages.