HSA Health Insurance Plans
Enrolling in an HSA insurance plan is the first step toward being eligible to open a Health Savings Account.
In all of the literature and official documentation about Health Savings Accounts, you will find a variety of different names to describe HSA insurance plans.
Within the legislation that created Health Savings Accounts, and in subsequent documentation from the Department of Treasury and the IRS, High Deductible Health Plan or HDHP is the term used for HSA-qualified insurance plans. However, not all high deductible health plans are necessarily HSA-qualified.
Consumer Driven Health Plan or CDHP is another common term to describe an HSA insurance plan; as is catastrophic health insurance. However, each of these terms can also be used to describe health insurance plans that are not HSA-qualified.
Therefore, throughout HSAConnect.com the simple term HSA insurance will be used to describe those plans that are compatible with a Health Savings Account.
You can access HSA insurance quotes for a variety of individual and family plans from all of the major insurance companies in your area; or, if you prefer to know what makes a health insurance plan HSA-qualified, here are the details:
- Deductible: The plan must have an annual deductible of at least $1,100 for individual (self-only) coverage or $2,200 for family (more than one individual) coverage.
- Out-of-Pocket Maximum: The annual out-of-pocket maximum for "In-Network" expenses cannot exceed $5,600 for individual coverage or $11,200 for family coverage. This refers to the amount of money you would have to pay before the insurance carrier would pay for 100% of any additional medical expenses incurred in that same year. It includes deductibles, co-payments and co-insurance expenses. It does not include premium payments.
- First Dollar Coverage: First dollar coverage refers to benefits where the plan's co-pay or co-insurance is available from the start, regardless of the deductible. With an HSA insurance plan first dollar coverage is only available for certain preventive care benefits, such as an annual physical. Other than preventive care, you will have to satisfy your deductible before any co-payment or co-insurance benefits can go into effect.
It is important to note that while the HSA insurance plans do not provide first dollar coverage for benefits like office visits and prescription drugs, that does not mean that you will have to pay the “off the street” rate for these services. Once you are a member of a carrier’s insurance plan, the most you will have to pay for an in-network service is the contracted rate the insurance company has with that provider. Typically, the contracted rate is significantly less expensive than the cost of those services without health insurance.
One advantage of the HSA insurance plan is the cost. Since these plans are high deductible health plans with limited coverage prior to reaching the deductible, they tend to be considerably less expensive than a traditional health insurance plan. In some instances the savings can even be enough to fund your HSA.
When considering the different HSA insurance options, you will want to pay particular attention to how comprehensive the benefits are after the deductible has been reached. Be certain to choose a plan that provides the same level of coverage as a traditional health insurance plan once the deductible has been reached.
If you have questions about which plans would work best for you, please feel free to give us a call. We would be happy to assist you.
