Andy Devore

A Health Savings Account or HSA Insurance Plan Offers Major Tax, Premium, & Retirement Savings

Health Savings Accounts Plans (HSA medical insurance) are already a proven success & the number of people switching to them from a traditional health plan is growing greatly each year.

Health Savings Accounts are literally available today to adults in the U.S. They offer significant financial benefits including tax, premium, & retirement savings to you, your family, and/or your business.  Since first being signed into law in December 2003 by the Federal Government, Health Savings Account plans (a.k.a. HSA medical insurance plans) are already a proven success & the number of people switching to HSAs from traditional health plans is growing greatly each year.  Medical Insurance is the most recent form of an investment vehicle. Knowledge is power when it comes to your finances so take the opportunity to become informed. I advise people not miss out on the extraordinary short & long term benefits that HSAs create.

An health savings account is made up of two parts:

Component 1 is the health insurance plan (one considered HSA-qualified by the Internal Revenue Service), and Component 2 is the savings account.  You may make voluntary contributions to this account so that you are given 100% tax-free privileges on all medical expenses and the ability to build an additional retirement account.  Imagine never paying taxes again on virtually any type of medical related expense including items not covered by Medicare or regular health insurance; For example acupuncture, glasses & vision care, over the counter aspirin, etc. can all be purchased tax-free.   Click on Health Savings Account Deduction to read more.

If you are age 55 and over, you have the added advantage of being able to make $1000 per year (2009) in additional catch-up contributions beyond the annual $3000 limit for individuals. A married couple can each open their own HSA accounts thereby doubling their contribution limits.  Click Health Savings Plans to read about 2008 & 2009 contribution limits and guidelines in greater detail.

HSA health savings plans are actually simple to understand.

A Health Savings Account enables you to:

1) Have access to a wide PPO network and in most all cases provides the coverage to allow you to continue seeing your current doctors & specialists.

2) Lower your health insurance premiums by 25 percent to 50 percent. To accomplish this, be sure to compare health insurance plans with different carriers. An individual can typically save between $80 to $250 dollars per month when they change their plan over from a traditional health insurance plan to a HSA qualified high deductible health savings plan. A family can save even more. Now the following point you should clearly envision and carefully think through. Since HSA plans have higher deductibles than most traditional health plans, forget any negative preconceived notions you may have about having a plan with a high deductible. Do not pay attention to what you may have heard. Don't be deceived. Yes, you'll now have high deductible insurance, but there are plenty of safety nets that will be there to protect you if & when the need arises.

After you get set-up, the first step to take is to place the money you are saving from having a new lower HSA monthly premium and place it into your new Health Savings Account each month. Realize that doing this doesn't cost you anything; you are just transferring the money you are saving into another location.

Here is the point: All of these above benefits & factors strongly reduce the impact of having a high deductible plan. Realistically there will be often periods of time where your money is only growing and never being withdrawn because you have little or no medical expenses.

Here's another benefit. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule says that at age 65 the money from your Health Savings Account may be withdrawn penalty-free for any reason, not just for HSA qualified expenses. In this case, you will pay only the regular income tax rate, just as you would when withdrawing from your IRA. However, your income during retirement generally goes way down as will the taxes required to pay. You will be paying much less income tax on these withdrawals than before you were retired. Finally, understand that the funds in your HSA are always yours, without exception, and they rollover from year to year. You are also allowed to do a one time rollover from an IRA into a Health Savings Account without any penalty.

And you may continue contributing the maximum to your IRA every year while still also making the maximum allowed HSA contributions. Having both types of retirement accounts is the perfect scenario, but if you can afford contributing to only one, I would recommend the Health Savings Account. This is because HSAs are more than solely a retirement savings vehicle.

Last but not least, although insurance companies are legally obligated to offer HSA health savings plans in their line of products, they are not going out of their way to promote & publicize these plans. Doing so would decrease THEIR profits.

Now you are probably starting to see the real picture. As a consumer today you really must take matters into your hands and become authentically informed. The expert advisors at HSAHealthSavings are on a mission to help millions of folks and their families clearly see the tremendous financial benefits that are readily attainable. We are excited as the benefits of health savings plans can literally transform one's financial portfolio in the long and short term. And regardless of income level, if you pay for health insurance at all, you owe it to yourself to consider and compare the benefits of HSA health savings plans versus the traditional health plans you are accustomed to.

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