bobandsherry
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Nov 24, 2015
- Messages
- 2,694
This year my Bronze plan went up considerably. At the same time an HSA plan didn't change by much. In years past I never saw benefit of HSA as it was over $250/mo more than my Bronze plan. But this year seems to change things, the HSA plan is now $43 less. So I'm considering the HSA plan. But I wanted to confirm my understanding of the HSA benefits/costs with those who have been down that path.
Married Couple 59/58 - Will manage income to stay below the MAGI cliff.
For HSA, I estimate I’d save the following per year:
I know I’ll pay more for Doctor visits. If my understanding is correct, I’ll pay the same rate as FloridaBlue would have covered (discounted rated) under my current plan. Is that a fair/correct assumption?
If so….. Looking at claims this year, for my primary they paid $90, so instead of paying $60 Co-Pay I’ll now pay him directly $90 (he actually billed $191). Similar, for labs last visit to lab was $268 billed, FloridaBlue paid $27.71. So I estimate then that my out of pocket payment would be the same.
For my prescriptions, the coverage is the same, so I estimate no change to my prescription costs.
I see an upside in that if one of us were to go into the hospital for a procedure the bill would be so high that we would then reach a max out of pocket. So, with my current plan we’d end up paying $8,550 for the year (one person) plus a co-pay of $400, while with the HSA we’d pay $6,850 (one person), so we would actually pay less $1,700 for the stay in the hospital.
Is my basic understanding correct? Is there something I'm overlooking and I shouldn't get the HSA plan? Open to any constructive comments as it seems I should be making a leap this year to HSA plan.
Married Couple 59/58 - Will manage income to stay below the MAGI cliff.
Plan | 1449 Bronze (Current) | 1735 Bronze HSA |
Premium (After Subsidy | $262.45 | $219.51 |
Deductible (per person) | $8,500 | $6,850 |
Max Out of Pocket (per person) | $8,550 | $6,850 |
Primary Care Visit | $60 (first 3 visits $20) | $TBD (no charge after deductible) |
Specialist Visit | $85 | $TBD (no charge after deductible) |
Lab | $30 | $TBD (no charge after deductible) |
Inpatient Facility | $400 Copay after Deductible | $TBD (no charge after deductible) |
For HSA, I estimate I’d save the following per year:
Premium ($262.45 - $219.51) * 12 | $515 |
Taxes ($8,200 HSA Max Contribution @ 12%) | $984 |
Increased Subsidy (Difference in subsidy amount from $68K to $62K) | $840 |
Total Savings | $2339 ($194/mo) |
I know I’ll pay more for Doctor visits. If my understanding is correct, I’ll pay the same rate as FloridaBlue would have covered (discounted rated) under my current plan. Is that a fair/correct assumption?
If so….. Looking at claims this year, for my primary they paid $90, so instead of paying $60 Co-Pay I’ll now pay him directly $90 (he actually billed $191). Similar, for labs last visit to lab was $268 billed, FloridaBlue paid $27.71. So I estimate then that my out of pocket payment would be the same.
For my prescriptions, the coverage is the same, so I estimate no change to my prescription costs.
I see an upside in that if one of us were to go into the hospital for a procedure the bill would be so high that we would then reach a max out of pocket. So, with my current plan we’d end up paying $8,550 for the year (one person) plus a co-pay of $400, while with the HSA we’d pay $6,850 (one person), so we would actually pay less $1,700 for the stay in the hospital.
Is my basic understanding correct? Is there something I'm overlooking and I shouldn't get the HSA plan? Open to any constructive comments as it seems I should be making a leap this year to HSA plan.