Do I Qualify For an HSA?
Although qualification requirements vary state-by-state and the IRS regulations are subject to change at any time, the following list contains the two major points of qualification for a Health Savings Account (HSA).
1. Does your health plan have a deductible of more than $1200 for a single enrollee or a $2400 for an enrolled family?
2. Do all medical expenses go towards your plans deductible? (excluding Safe Harbor Benefits)
Note on #2: Some newer plans being offered by insurance carriers are considered hybrid plans; meaning they have a deductible that applies for certain expenses (hospitalization for example) but a copay-based structure for other expenses, such as a doctor’s visit or prescription drug. These hybrid plans are not true high-deductibles and therefore are not Health Savings Account eligible.
For example, a plan may have a $1500 hospitalization deductible but a primary care physician (PCP) copay of $50. A plan such as this is not HSA eligible.
Clark Howard Speaks Out on HDHPs
Question:
“High deductible health. How do we compare prices? Clark is often promoting and supporting high deductible health plans. He encourages us to compare prices and the value of what we are getting for the money, but how? I would like to hear him give consumers details about where they can find info and what providers charge for a procedure, details about when and why the procedure is needed and data on the outcomes. To my knowledge it is not available and if he is going to push us to become better consumers it would be nice for him to push the providers to give us the data we need to make better decisions.”
Clark Howard:
“HERE HERE! I am with that poster 100%. The reality is that we don’t have the information available to us today in order for us to truly become consumers of health care. And it’s because the system has become so discombobulated with how people get health coverage. I will tell you that we get into a mode where we buy health care like we buy dental care, we will get what economists call transparency. We’ll get the information available to us on pricing that we have on virtually every product or service we buy almost without exception except for health care.”
This exchange can be found at the 3:45 mark of the “Clark Stinks” podcast from 4/21/10 (clicking this link will open a web-based audio player).
Source: Clark Stinks (constructive criticism of Clark’s viewpoints) page of the ClarkHoward.com website. More about Clark Howard can be found here.
What Health Reform Does This Year: In 3 Minutes (Video)
What Health Reform Does This Year: In 3 Minutes from White House on Vimeo.
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