There are several exciting things about Consumer Driven Health Care plans that are proving to reduce costs. One of the best things is pricing transparency.
HSA consumers here in the Kansas City area (and nationwide beginning in October with over 1500 new blood draw locations) have access to special pricing for lab work. Show them your HSA debit card and you can save 10% off your already discounted lab tests!
We enjoyed having Metabolic Research Lab representatives Heather & Dr. Al with us on “Insurance Talk” radio show Saturday August 27th, 2011. Click here to listen to the entire show podcast.
It appears millions of Americans are purchasing HSA qualified health insurance plans in spite of being told they are too risky, they don’t work, they are too confusing, etc. There must be some way to further confuse people and reduce the huge premium savings these plans offer…
I know, let’s introduce redundant legislation that will make accessing HSA funds more difficult and costly…Brilliant!
(Click on the cartoon image below to view the Investment News article)
Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly what the members of the House of Representatives were thinking. For some politicians (say hi Pete), anything short of socialized medicine is inadequate.
I feel our current health care delivery system, which has completely shielded Americans from pricing and quality information, is already too close to socialism. You pay your co-pay and your insurance company pays the rest. This makes people think there are no consequences for over-utilization. Of course there are consequences. Have you seen how much you are paying for health insurance? I know, this doesn’t pertain to you because your employer pays for your health insurance. WRONG! Your pay raises are being sent to your Health Insurance Company every year!
2012 Update: Be sure to listen to our interview with Bob Meyers of CobraGuard.net on Insurance Talk with Scott & Mike:
Whether you are a victim of downsizing, a company merger, or if you are finally making the move to starting your own company, continuing quality health insurance is a major concern.
This means you are able to continue your current group health insurance coverage for up to 18 months in most situations. You are responsible for the entire premium without assistance from your prior employer. This can be a great option in some situations. If there are pre-existing health conditions that would either be excluded by a new individual insurance policy or make you ineligible for coverage altogether (diabetes, stroke, heart attack, recent internal cancer, etc.) then COBRA is probably the right choice. For those that are healthy enough to qualify, purchasing an individual health insurance policy that could be continued indefinitely usually makes more sense.
An individual health insurance policy is not tied in with any particular employer so it is portable. You own your coverage. Most insurance companies will guarantee that the only way your policy will be cancelled is if every policy in the state in which you reside is cancelled. Some insurers will not raise rates unless all policies in your class are raised accordingly. This pooling offers a tremendous amount of protection not usually associated with individual health insurance policies.
The best news is that the premiums for individual policies are typically lower. Sometimes a lot lower.
So the real question is…If you are healthy enough to qualify today, why not secure permanent coverage at an affordable rate?
A Health Savings Account (HSA) is a tax-deductible account to which you can contribute to save for future medical expenses or to pay for any day-to-day, qualified medical expenses permitted under federal tax law...[More]
My HSA Guy 