A consumer perspective on HSA’s
I was perusing the latest HSA Related Blog entries, and ran across this personal finance blog, with this enthusiastic endorsement of the program:
As far as I can work out a HSA works similarly to a 401k plan. You need to purchase a high-deductible health insurance plan and then you can open an HSA. You contribute a certain amount of money each year (all of it tax deductible). You get a nifty debit card and use it to pay for medical costs, medicine, etc. Unlike other plans its not a use-it-or-lose-it thing. You can let unused money in your HSA grow and compound TAX FREE so that you can theoretically save up money over time to cover costs when you get old and are more likely to have health issues. Also, its somewhat transferrable: you can use your HSA to cover medical costs of others in your family, too. You can’t use this money for anything else or else there is a penalty. But again, a tax-write off in the short-term and tax-free growth of your money in the long term sounds smart to me! (Money, I might add, that is separate from your other future-planning money, so you don’t have to dip into that!).
It’s always good to see the end consumer educating themselves on the myriad benefits of health savings accounts - keep up the great work!
Technorati Tags: HSA’s, Personal Finance, Consumer Perspectives