I'm still happy with my HSA.

SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM........

Not at all, I was just looking to see how much money I could put into my HSA this year. While looking I ran across and it gives 10 good reasons to open an HSA. I'll go back and look to see who I promoted:-) Mike

Am happy for you that you are rich enough to be able to do that.

Mike, can you do me a favor and look at your "1099 SA" statement? On mine the stuff that was paid for copays, dentist and such is listed in box 1 as "gross distribution". Last year I ended up paying tax on that. Didn't catch it, darn. It should be non-taxed.

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Not rich, we just live well below our means. Our first your of marriage (1981) we made $18,000 and saved $6,000. That made me get as serious about saving as my wife already was! Mike

BTW, by changing to the high deductible my insurance premium was reduced by $5,400. I used that to fund the HSA.

Hi Joerg, Mine is also listed as Box 1, Gross distributions. I see it picked up on form 8889 lines 14a, 14c and 15. I don't see line 15 added back in anyplace else. So I don't see where I'm paying tax on it. Let me know if you see it different. Mike

Well, look carefully at Social Insecurity..the illegal business of tax on the income (if income is more than a certain amount). I say this is totally unconstitutional, because that is DOUBLE taxation. You paid taxes on ALL of your income, forcibly removed from you before you got your paycheck. So ALL payments *into* "Social Security" were treated as income from the git-go AND had taxes pre-paid! WTF? has nobody taken this BS to court or is everybody sheeple?

THAT is the smart way to go as long as you are in good health and have good prospects of remaining that way for a goodly term.

I think the max out of pocket is about $11,500, I will have that much in my account after my next contribution. Which will be as soon as I get it done. I wish I had started this when the plan wqas past. Mike

Mine was also picked up on 8889 but as taxable and with 10% penalty tax. So my CPA seems to have gotten that wrong or maybe I should have explicitly highlighted it as non-tax, and I paid too much in taxes :-(

I think all this talk about paperwork reduction act and simplifying the tax code is just a bad joke.

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Isn't that why there's tea parties now? :-)

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Jorge, what form did the amount go to after the 8889? I want to make sure I didn't get nicked too. It is interesting that my accountant had a new guy (to me) overlooking as he did the HSA a stuff. My accountant ask a few questions of him and then was satisfied all was right ;-{. Mike

Form 1040, line 21 and the "penalty" to line 61. Dang :-(

I'll ask them how that can be avoided this time. It's not right to pay tax plus 10% penalty for stuff that per law is supposed to be tax free.

Problem is the compliance cost is so high, meaning you pay more for the hours than you get back from what would be rightfully yours. I let quite a few small things go in favor of uncle Sam because of that. So our national debt is probably a wee bit lower because of me :-)))

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I have been self-employed since 1989, and after the COBRA expired from that job I purchased insurance from BCBS, but IIRC it disallowed certain pre-existing conditions, including any problems I might have with my back. So, I "limped" along with those restrictions, and then I got insurance through NASE, which I think covered everything at a reasonable rate. But the rates went up by around 1999-2000. About that time I accepted a full-time (25 hrs/week) position at a company where I do a lot of consulting work, and got full group insurance. But I really didn't like working there, on their terms, although the health insurance benefits were a major factor and also I had to get a mortgage in 2003-2004 which was helped by showing regular employment. Once I had sold that house and paid off the mortgage, I quit the job, and enjoyed COBRA for 18 months at a fairly reasonable cost.

Once COBRA ran out, I sought to purchase health insurance from BCBS, but they denied any sort of coverage, even with exceptions for pre-existing conditions and even for high deductible. Nothing at any price, and this is where the system is really broken. I was going to try NASE again, but my insurance agent informed me of a state-subsidized program called Maryland Health Insurance Plan, which is only offered to those denied coverage.

I signed up for a high-deductible plan ($2600) which at that time cost about $150/month. I opened an HSA with the deductible, and if you consider that as an additional monthly premium, I essentially got 100% coverage for $367/month. Now I pay $273/month, so I get the equivalent of full coverage, no deductible, for about $480/month. It's a lot, but then I'm a 60 year-old guy with various health problems.

As for the HSA, the only "local" provider was Sandy Spring Bank, and they charged a $5 monthly service fee for balances under $1000, while paying interest at maybe 1%. I had an on-line account, and in Dec 2008 I logged on to transfer $2000 into my account, which had a balance of about $500. Then I made five payments, one of which was like $560. I had not realized that my transfer had not gone through (I did not click a button to finalize it), so they attempted to process the $560 check, got a balance 0f -$60, and charged a $35 NSF fee. But then they left the negative balance, and proceeded to process the other checks, which were much smaller, and I ended up with $175 of NSF fees, then they credited back all the checks that did not clear, so I wound up with a balance of $325, and no processed checks. They sent me a letter informing of this, and fortunately I opened it immediately, but by that time they said they were going to try once more to process the checks on 12/24/08, and assess another $175 in fees! I ended up having to go to my bank on Christmas Eve to send a wire transfer that cost another $35, and Sandy Spring Bank was willing only to refund two of the NSF fees as a "courtesy", so the SNAFU cost me a total of $140 plus hours on the phone and running around.

So, I found another bank that does NOT charge monthly fees, and they told me that a situation such as I had encountered would not happen with them. They are First American Bank,

and I transferred my account to them and have been happy with them ever since. My own local bank, now offers HSAs, but they charge the monthly fees. So at least now I can say that I am truly happy with my HSA.

I really think the HSA is a good model for health insurance. About half my monthly cost goes directly to the insurance, while the other half goes into my account. If I am healthy, the savings account grows, and my payments are tax deductible, which can be a further savings of 15-30%. When I qualify for Medicare in a little over four years, I can draw out any money remaining in the account.

Everyone should be able to get health insurance at a competitive rate based on risk factors. Then, based on income, there may be some federal or state subsidies for those who cannot afford it. But, for this and any other subsidies, it should be in the form of a long-term, low interest, payment-deferred loan. Each year you receive any sort of subsidy, whether health care, food stamps, welfare, or whatever, the amount should go on your account. If your situation stays the same, you will not be forced to pay more than you can afford toward interest or principle. But, if you win the lottery, or get a huge inheritance or court settlement, or land a great job, then the amount you have accumulated becomes due and payable on a reasonable schedule. It should not be written off unless you die, and even then any life insurance you may have should be used to pay back this debt.

Paul

What if something nasty happens and you need a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of medical care? Do you have insurance for that?

I had a small, benign lump removed from a salivary gland. The theoretical bill was $44,000. Scale that up to something serious.

John

John, What are the symptoms of that? I have something going south with the salivary gland under my chin, right side. Lots of antibiotics, no results :-(

Of course I smoked like a stove (pipe) from age 18-54, so you know what I fear.

Cost is no object, I'm on the dole ;-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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I love to cook with wine.     Sometimes I even put it in the food.

High deductible plans typically have a max yearly out of pocket limit. Ours is around $10k AFAIK. Ok for you and I, but of course not for people who live paycheck to paycheck. It does cover catastrophic stuff.

Bills are often highly inflated for non-insureds or self-payers. It's the only group they can really sock it to, or at least try.

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Sure John, I have regular BCBS insurance the only difference is I went for a $10,000 deductible. Bumping my deductible from $2,500 to $10,000 lowered my premium from $9,950 to $4,600. You need to have a high deductible in order to qualify for the HSA, but it is not as high as $10,000. Mike

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Stop rubbing that in my ahh our face. Mike ;-) PS, I'm 54, I expect to get hit with paying more, getting less and receiving it later.