The quest for our family HSA continues. My wife continued to sift, looking at doctors, understanding what counts against the deductible, whether or not the plans included well care, whether or not the plans had drug plans and so forth.

 

All of her research, until today was done on line at which point, she called our insurance agent, to discuss the plan that seemed to be most likely to fit our family’s needs. I have to be honest, after years within the mother ship’s cone of safety; this is really a big mind shift for us. The power of a “payroll deduction” is a scary thing. It made us feel like we weren’t even paying our insurance premiums in the old job. And in the new world, at the opposite end of the spectrum is a deductible of $10,400.

 

The reality, however, is far different. The reality for us with COBRA is $10,460 in premium, without ever setting foot out our doorstep. The reality with the HDHP with the HSA is (at least until our insurance agent finalizes it) is $2,100 in premium and that includes well visits to the doctor for our family, plus the above the line tax deduction for the HSA which, if I can, we will fund to the maximum of $5650 (which will be the topic of my next posting).

 

If we stay healthy next year, our savings over COBRA will be enormous. Plus, the new plan, which is not a group plan, is only $60 per month more than what my old company is offering in the way of an HSA qualifying plan this year.