Your Health Insurance Cost?

[s0me0nesmind1]

For folks here that get your medical insurance completely (or mostly?) entirely covered by your employer...

I'm kinda curious - how many of you live in CA major cities (SF/'LA areas) or places like NYC?

 

[repoman0]

$180/month for HDHP with $1500 deductible, employer contributes ~$900 last I checked and funds $500 annually to HSA. It used to be $65/month at my old job for same coverage. It’s all pretax anyway so that’s 30+% less in “real” money.

 

[Brainonska511]

The current max is ~$3,550 for single (double for family). So maybe his employer tosses in $1,000 leaving him with ~$2550.

There are overall low-limits because it's meant to be a "save over time" in order to pay for say... a $10-15k hospital bill you might have down the line.

I treat it like a triple-tax advantage account, regardless of my medical bills right now, I don't take any money out and just invest it all.

Maxing out my HSA is my highest priority - right behind enough 401k contributions to get your employer match.

I know the limit is higher. He said the employer doesn't give anything towards it though, so kind of weird to have a lower limit than the legal limit.

I see an HSA more as a way to cover your deductible every year, but could be a backdoor for longer term savings or bigger one-time expenses. The biggest issue is deductibles have exploded for some people. I would hate to have a plan where I'd have to shell out $10k because of some insane OOP maximum.

 

[Scarpozzi]

My employer has a massive group and I'm not sure what the cost is. I cut my insurance about 4-5 years ago and am on my wife's plan. It used to be that a family PPO plan was $325/month with like a $1000 or so deductible. That doesn't cover teeth though. According to my health insurance company, those are luxury bones that only the rich can afford.

My wife's group is far smaller, but is basically the same provider/plan that my employer uses. Her employer doesn't charge premiums, so the monthly expense is $0. The only difference is that the deductible with her plan is $10000 for a family. We did the math, though and realized since she has no premiums through her employer, it made more sense to cut mine and use hers, despite the larger cost if we were to need it. I guess we've saved $15+k that way. Prior to that, we were double covered and had the small benefit of no co-pays.

She's been saving in a HSA for a few years now...I've not been, but plan on putting some money aside in other tax shelters just in case I need it.

 

[Ajay]

On wife's plan (she's has a union job). HSA $4K deductible, but the city contributes $3K.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I know the limit is higher. He said the employer doesn't give anything towards it though, so kind of weird to have a lower limit than the legal limit.

I see an HSA more as a way to cover your deductible every year, but could be a backdoor for longer term savings or bigger one-time expenses. The biggest issue is deductibles have exploded for some people. I would hate to have a plan where I'd have to shell out $10k because of some insane OOP maximum.

I'm treating it 100% investment. And I hit my deductible every year from an expensive med I take.

Max out the HSA. Keep all receipts of medical expenses - down the line when it's time to retire, have all those medical receipts (obviously electronically, hard to manage paper copies), and pull all of your expenses out over the years completely tax free. No tax on the income when you first put in the HSA. No tax on the investment gains. No tax on the income when you take it out. Doesn't get any better than that.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

She's been saving in a HSA for a few years now...I've not been, but plan on putting some money aside in other tax shelters just in case I need it.

HSAs are (to a certain extent) a 1 per household. Unlike a 401k - where you can both contribute and max them out individually - with an HSA you have a "single amount" and a "family amount". So if your wife is contributing and maxing out the full $7,100 or so - then you aren't able to contribute.

You can split it up though, maybe your wife contributes $4,000 and you contribute $3,100 - but the point is simply to be careful and don't go over the full family limit if you both individually have accounts.

 

[purbeast0]

For folks here that get your medical insurance completely (or mostly?) entirely covered by your employer...

I'm kinda curious - how many of you live in CA major cities (SF/'LA areas) or places like NYC?

I'm in the DC metro area. Not in DC but between DC and Baltimore.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

yeah, I actually just talked to them about that earlier today.

I also learned that, because of the "Last Month rule," I can actually contribute all of 2020 maximum, as long as I keep my plan through December 2021. ....is that actually true? They confirmed this several times (my HSA provider), but it still sounds strange to me.

I'm also a dingbat--I let my market insurace go forward until, well, this week....after getting that third bill that I didn't pay and was like WTFFFAFIFYGHT? and it dawned on me (not having ever had to deal with non-employer provided health insurance) "Oh, this is actually a bill like insurance and stuff, that I just have to pay regardless." LoL. Don't know why my brain treated it differently. I tried to beg forgiveness from the state (I had essentially doubled up on insurance payments for 1.5-2 months, maybe, lol), but well, uh, no dice on that.

So, then I proceeded to ask the HSA people a knowingly stupid question: If I could like, you know, "double contribute" for those 2 months, seeing as how I was "paying for 2 individual plans" for those 2 months (who cares if it was the same individual, right? right?). Lol, that didn't work, either.

I remember hearing about this rule but never fully looked it up. It's definitely confusing, as legal/government language always is.

Quick read is telling me that you have to remain on the plan for a subsequent 12 months for the rule to apply as well?

The Last Month Rule: Everything You Need to Know

If you recently just opened an HSA to complement your high-deductible health plan, you may be qualified for the "Last Month" rule. There are some stipulations to contributing for the year - read more to find out what you have to do to stay compliant.

livelyme.com

 

[Svnla]

Before Obamacare, I used to pay about $45/month for myself for a high deductible ($7.5K IIRC) from BlueCross. That's was my sole cost for myself and I paid by myself (no employer's share) because I was planning to go free agent and open my own business.

After Obamacare, that policy was gone and my cost went up 3x-4x and was about to go higher. Keep in mind, I did not have any claim except getting older every year.

Now I am back to my current employer and my share of the health plan for a highest deductible possible ($10K IIRC) is over $100/month for myself and my employer's share is at least several times of that amount. Don't let me start about the cost if I pick the "regular" plan.

Will have to pay until I can get Medicare before I can go full free agent and open my own business then.

 

[zinfamous]

For folks here that get your medical insurance completely (or mostly?) entirely covered by your employer...

I'm kinda curious - how many of you live in CA major cities (SF/'LA areas) or places like NYC?

I did up to 5 years ago, when I was living in Berkeley. But it was the same in Chicago, it's the same here in MD. Yes, they are big city areas where I live, but it's mostly tied to the institution, I think: Academia predominantly, but now for the first time, I am "government."

I assume that when your institution commands a large employee pool, like 35k-70k or so, your plan options are quite good. Also, Academia generally has "better" benefits in some regards--not all regards. Financing is a bit different in education, and the institutions that handle typical benefits for Universities, public or private, are also different (e.g. TIAA, and 403b instead of 401k)

 

[zinfamous]

I'm treating it 100% investment. And I hit my deductible every year from an expensive med I take.

Max out the HSA. Keep all receipts of medical expenses - down the line when it's time to retire, have all those medical receipts (obviously electronically, hard to manage paper copies), and pull all of your expenses out over the years completely tax free. No tax on the income when you first put in the HSA. No tax on the investment gains. No tax on the income when you take it out. Doesn't get any better than that.

yes, but make sure to update your digital copies regularly, because I rather doubt that your quantum computer in 2053 will be able to read the data off of your ancient spinny discs, or even solid state silicon.

Paper will survive, as long as you don't set fire to it

 

[Brainonska511]

I'm treating it 100% investment. And I hit my deductible every year from an expensive med I take.

Max out the HSA. Keep all receipts of medical expenses - down the line when it's time to retire, have all those medical receipts (obviously electronically, hard to manage paper copies), and pull all of your expenses out over the years completely tax free. No tax on the income when you first put in the HSA. No tax on the investment gains. No tax on the income when you take it out. Doesn't get any better than that.

That's mainly how I've treated mine too. Just keep an excel sheet with contributions, any distributions, links to receipts and what I've reimbursed myself for, what still is outstanding...

Unfortunately, this past year, I haven't been able to contribute because my partner signed up for an FSA during open enrollment last year. That won't be a barrier in the coming year for me.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

yes, but make sure to update your digital copies regularly, because I rather doubt that your quantum computer in 2053 will be able to read the data off of your ancient spinny discs, or even solid state silicon.

Paper will survive, as long as you don't set fire to it

A lot of receipts these days have text that fades over time. Scanned PDFs all the way - got them on my NAS + Dropbox just in case.

 

[zinfamous]

I remember hearing about this rule but never fully looked it up. It's definitely confusing, as legal/government language always is.

Quick read is telling me that you have to remain on the plan for a subsequent 12 months for the rule to apply as well?

The Last Month Rule: Everything You Need to Know

If you recently just opened an HSA to complement your high-deductible health plan, you may be qualified for the "Last Month" rule. There are some stipulations to contributing for the year - read more to find out what you have to do to stay compliant.

livelyme.com

Yeah, that's what she said. Essentially: assuming that I am qualified in December of 2020, and if I remain qualified throughout of 2021 (December 31, 2021), then I can contribute the full 2020 amount, regardless of whether or not I was qualified for each individual month of 2020. Apparently, December is what matters, so "Last Month Rule," which, on it's own is weird. I guess the idea is to give that advantage at the tail end of the year if you had no other option, but then for people that say, started mid-year and have even more months of eligibility, they should also see the same advantage?

I don't really get the logic behind it, but I'm not complaining. I'm just going to go ahead and contribute all of 2020 maximum come Tax submission this year (going to try to get it done as soon as I get all my W2s, because it will be complicated this year: 2 jobs, unemployment benefits for like, 3 months, wherein I did not pre-pay taxes, so really just saving extra now to dump into HSA and my separate trIRA (not yet contributed for 2020), to see where I stand on all that is owed). I also have state RE tax credit for this year, that was calculated late because of the disease, and have to deal with mortgage company that hosed me on the massively underdrawn escrow (but they have since readjusted and have the new information)

 

[zinfamous]

A lot of receipts these days have text that fades over time. Scanned PDFs all the way - got them on my NAS + Dropbox just in case.

yeah, receipts are bad. scanning is the way to go, but I also consider putting them in those plastic sticky sheets that people put in binders. ....like scrapbooks or something.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

yeah, receipts are bad. scanning is the way to go, but I also consider putting them in those plastic sticky sheets that people put in binders. ....like scrapbooks or something.

I have multiple things - because even receipts isn't always enough I hear - so I also have insurance explanation of benefits - and in my accounting software I have all the medical related expenses recorded in there. I also keep copies of all my credit cards + bank statements that I can pull based on looking them up.

 

[ultimatebob]

It looks like my employer is "generously" offering us an insurance policy that costs $500 a month for the family, has an $8,000 deductible, and only covers providers in their network.

And that's the cheapest offering they have. The others cost even more.

Umm... Nope.

 

[jpiniero]

I have a private insurance plan that's sort of Silver. The crappy thing is that you don't get the deduction. But even without it, it's still cheaper than the HSA plan the temp agency offers.

 

[Mai72]

Not so awesome for the taxpayers subsidizing the schools. Ask me how I know. Aren't those gold plans upwards of like $25k per person?

I talked to a person whose working at a public school, and he told me that his health coverage is about $22k per year. He's a TA (teacher's aide) and only makes about $26k a year. Not much money, but at least his health coverage is very good I guess.

 

[Mai72]

Make less money so you can get the tax payers to pay for it

I have zero clue how much you make, but whats the threshhold for subsidies for ACA? I think 400% of the federal poverty rate?

Gotta start doing calculations to see if the subsidies simply make up for the difference in pay.

Federal poverty wage for household of 2 is 17,240. Multiply that by 4 and you get $68,960.

Exactly. This is the problem with our system. Why make an income above the threshold and risk losing health coverage. If you don't make much you can have the state take care of your health care. It's the same with student loans and IBR. It sounds great on paper as IBR is tailored to your income. Low income people pay little. I know someone who plays the system. He owes $100k in student loans. He purposely makes only $25k a year. Helath coverage is $20 a month, and his student loan payments are $40 a month.

 

[nisryus]

That's a weird HSA cap. Why the arbitrarily low limit?

Hmm... I have actually never bother to ask why the limit for HSA was such.... I might have to contact HR about this.

 

[soulcougher73]

Off the top of my head it's about $85/m High Deductible Plan just for me, and then I max my HSA. Wife is on her own employer paid health plan.

 

[nakedfrog]

Oh, are we assuming these are all non-tobacco user rates? That's what I posted, tobacco user rates are higher of course.

 

[jameny5]

I pay 227 biweekly. It's killing me in New York. I'm happy to have it. The healthcare industry and insurance companies are coming up with all kinds of ways and excuses to clean us out and bilk us. These last few years make you want to bury your head in the sand with these exhorbitant bills. <--- Who is watching these two industries? Makes you wonder...