Health Savings Account

[kannon]

Can someone with federal blue Cross blue shield standard option open a health savings account?

Never thought about until listened to Sunday talk shows about enlarging hsa availability for high deductible insurance plans.

Thanks

 

[bingybear]

I tried looking that plan by scanning the web. What I found first looked like no, but I'm not sure that I had your plan because I kept finding different info. It looked some some plans were dependent upon state. Again, this is based on what I saw online.

What are your individual and family deductible? Do you have co-pays? Does your plan note HSA compatible or HDHP?
Someone would really need to know about your specific plan to answer the question. I would call HR tomorrow and aske them if your plan is HSA compatible instead of guessing. You may luck out and find someone who has your plan and knows the answer.

 

[zinger1457]

I doubt it, as I recall the standard plan has a very small deductible. There are fed plans that are HSA eligible, you may have to wait until the open season to switch over. When I was with the feds and shopping for an HSA plan all eligible plans clearly stated in the description if they were HSA eligible.

 

[ABQ2015]

No. BCBS does not offer a HDHP with HSA for federal employees and retirees. I switched from BCBS to an Aetna HDHP a few years ago and have been pleased with it. There is a $1500 deductible for the Self plan but the premiums are about a third less than BCBS Standard, the government employer contributes $750 to the HSA, and I save $1500 in taxes by contributing the max to the HSA. Aetna is not as widely accepted as BCBS and you have to go online to view claims whereas BCBS sent me lots of paper with all the details. But I'm okay with that and have not noticed a difference in the quality of care although I don't have complicated medical issues.

GEHA provides another popular HDHP but my dermatologist and gynecologist were not in their network so I chose Aetna. Co-workers have GEHA and have been pleased with it. I plan to be on the HDHP a few more years until I am retired and on Medicare and no longer eligible for an HDHP - will likely switch back to BCBS.

Some of the new administration ACA replacement plans propose increasing the HSA contribution limits. But I'm not clear if those changes apply to everyone with an HDHP or only those who are on the ACA HDHP.

 

[kannon]

Thank you - lot of good information