HSA plans are mysterious, aren’t they? People are confused with how they are configured.
There are two parts to the HSA or Health Savings Account type plan.
- The Insurance Part
The Savings Part
In this video, we will look at the details of the insurance part. The high deductible health plan, as you will learn, is a deep, broad coverage type plan that protects you from the serious damage caused by catastrophic events.
Many people find that the high deductible health plan (HDHP) is protection enough. They don’t even open up the health savings account at their local bank. They like the HDHP is so much less expensive than typical copay type plans.
Watch this video on HSA plans — specifically the insurance part of the plan.
HSA Plans - The Mysterious High Deductible Health Plan - Click here for this week’s top video clips
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2 responses so far ↓
1 High Deductible Health Insurance // Jan 30, 2010 at 10:42 pm
It seems to me that this different approach to health care insurance would have many people for which this would work well. I’m unsure what to think about people with chronic and expensive health problems. If someone has to frequently pay these high deductibles then how does it work?
2 admin // Feb 1, 2010 at 11:00 am
That is an excellent question…one that I have pondered frequently. However, let’s look at the maximum deductible for a person with a copay plan, the typical is $2500 80/20.
Compare out-of-pocket expenses. With this copay plan, in a catastrophic situation, the person would have to meet $2500 + another $2000 for coinsurance - total $4500 out of pocket.
If we look at the High Deductible Health Plan with a $5000 deductible, you would have $5000 out-of-pocket before the insurance company covered 100%.
That $500 difference is not too significant because the person with the high deductible health plan (HDHP) would be paying a much lower premium each month.
If it means that someone can afford the HDHP and be insured as compared with not being able to purchase the copay plan, and therefore, not insured, then I guess the HDHP wins.
If on the other hand, the insured has a chronic illness, perhaps the copay plan is better.
The insurance companies have done all the math and I think, bottom line, it is better for a person with a chronic problem, to be on a copay plan if they can afford that type of plan. If not, then, certainly the HDHP plan is better.
I think it is always better to be insured, even if it is a catastrophic insurance plan.
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