The main reason that I wanted to have a HSA was the fact that I hated to pay all of that money to the health insurance company every year! 

 

Hundreds of dollar each month was taken out of my paycheck and never seen or ever used.  It was very disheartening for me.   

Then in 2005, the company I work at announced that for year 2006, they were going to included a HSA plan in their medical options!  That when I started reading about it.  The first year it was offered, I didn’t bite, but it was very tempted and I really regretted that I didn’t join!  Then in 2007, I finally mustered up enough courage to take the plunge.  Nobody else around me was switching like I was, so I was second guessing myself alot, but the numbers made sense to me, so I switch to the HSA plan.   

My company had a yearly max of out of pocket expenses of almost $5,500 for family coverage, and $2,500 for individual max expenses.  Luckily, I had a Roth and other monies set aside that if the need truly arose, I could tap those funds to cover such emergencies.    

Reasons and logic as to why I went with a HSA:

• I hate that I never, (NEVER), saw the money under the non-HSA plan.  It’s like renting…
• We hardly used any money for health needs anyway.  Everybody is pretty healthy and young.
• I thought the money would come in handy if for some reason I got laid off.  Taxes on it would suck though!!!
• The tax benefits are phenomenal!  The contributions are tax deductible!  Up to the following top limits:  (for 2010) $3,050 for individual coverage, $6,150 for family coverage (and if you are 55 or older, you get an additional $1,000 amount tacked on to the above limits).
• My company kicked in a free monthly contribution in addition to the one I was making!!!  Yeah Baby!

There were negatives too with the HSA plan such as:

• You have to pay the money for all the visits to the doctor’s office, etc (although certain things were still covered with the company plan, like a physical and the kid’s checkups).  We got a credit card option with our HSA provider for HSA charges…
• If we had a serious medical emergency the first year, then this would have costs us more than it would have benefited us.

As you can imagine, the positive aspect outweighed the negative aspects for my family.    

Here is the real kicker!  We have enough of a money basis in our HSA that we can now invest the money in a dividend stock of some sort and the dividend would pay for our yearly medical expenses (which currently come in less that $250.00)!  Not all plans let you do this though, but many will let you invest in mutual funds though.   

So far my small not-too-risky gamble has paid off with the HSA I am in.  Most of my work peers, don’t share my enthusiasm for the HSA plan, but for me, it’s a win-win!   

Readers, what do you have an HSA, and do you realize what a great money saving device it potentially is?