Originally Posted by
mike734
At Alaska this year, they are encouraging everyone to sign up for the HSA plan which requires a high deductible. If I stick to my old PPO plan the premium will be $189 twice a month. If I opt for the HSA plan the cost drops to $109 twice a month. The deductible increases to $4000 per family per year. But the company give us $3000 to fund the account. With the monthly savings and the company contribution, the $4000 deductible is covered.
It seems too generous to be true. I'm still looking for the downside.
Not really any downside to it. With your savings from your premium difference, you can put another $1920 into your HSA for a total of $4920. I don't even know how you could lose with them giving you $3000. Plus every year you don't use it all, you can save it for the future.
I think these HSA plans also do a good job promoting people to take an even more active role in staying healthy, since they can bank the savings for the future and the funds are eligible for medicare premiums.
With the contributions being tax free and the interest gains from investing it also tax free, you have the benefits of a traditional and ROTH retirement accounts combined.
Originally Posted by
Qotsaautopilot
Same at spirit. The high deductible plan is a $4500 deductible but the company kicks in $3000 toward it into a HRA. HRA is similar to an HSA but it's not investable. It does roll over so if you don't use it and you get another $3000 added you could have your entire deductible covered and then some left over for other expenses when the plan pays a 90/10 split after the deductible is met. It's still a PPO and the savings over the expensive plan are $3600 a year in premiums. All these numbers a based on being on the family level. It is however bad for prescriptions so if we needed something regularly I might not recommend it. Otherwise no brainer IMO
The only main difference with the HRA is that the money isn't usually yours to keep when you separate from your company. If you have a choice between the two, you almost always want to go with an HSA over and HRA. Depending on how your prescription out-of-pocket max works, you may have a separate amount to hit, while the HSA applies towards your deductible/out-of-pocket max.