Blog Entries tagged 'hdhp'

Is My La-Z-Boy an HSA Qualified Medical Expense?

shades — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:00:00 +0100

A few days ago I was fascinated by an article in the Wall Street Journal that talked about how working on laptops wreaks havoc on ones back shoulders and neck due to the horrible posture it promotes. As best I can tell, with a laptop, it is very difficult to get the keyboard and the monitor in the proper position to support proper posture and good back/neck/shoulder health. The result is back aches.

Until a few weeks ago, I suffered laptop back aches too.&n [...]

What's The Difference Between A Hippo and HIPPA?

shades — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 22:00:00 +0100

My son has this flattened stuffed hippo called Flatso, who has been a close family friend for many years. As an aside, I wonder if the phrase "creature comfort" is derived from these affections we had for these stuffed critters when we were kids.

When my son was three years old, we were eating dinner at Col Poole's Bar-B-Que joint up in the Georgia hills on our way home from a weekend in North Carolina. Poole's is famous for four things; Pig Hill, politician [...]

Who Is Regina Herzlinger?

shades — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

For starters, she speaks our language. And that is the language of Consumer Driven Healthcare. A brief expose' of her positions are outlined in the December 22 edition of Business Week and worth a read. If time is tight, keep reading below for a summary and maybe even a few thoughts of our own (maybe).

Regina Herzlinger is a professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and she advocates neither government nor employer based healthcare. [...]

Why is Healthcare So Friggin' Expensive? Reason # 11

shades — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Last month we posted an article that hit on the "Unscientific Top Ten Reasons Why Healthcare is So Expensive." Today we are here to offer you unscientific reason #11.

The U.S. Government doesn't trust you any further than they can throw you.

HDHPs and HSAs, by nature should save you money over traditional health insurance. BUT, the Government in all its wisdom/paranoia does what they can to undermine their efficiencies.

In this case, they passed some leg [...]

(Health Savings Account) HSA Rules 2009

shades — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Now there's a seemingly dry topic for an article on HSAs but guess what? It is one of the top keyword searches driving individuals to this site.

And since we are all about HSA education, it seems only fitting that if you blasted through cyberspace and somehow landed on this page reading this article, and this sentence specifically, it seems only fair that we get you to a place that can get your question answered. If you will click right here you will be shot through cybe [...]

E-Health And Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)

shades — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

If you read the last article in the Gradock Bulletin or if you're already well informed you know what the concept of "e-health" is (and if you didn't read it, it is right below this article). You might even be asking yourself what's in it for you? And more specifically, how does it relate to CDH, HSAs and HDHPs?

Good question.

Imagine if you had a secure place where you could input basic health information about yourself and your family that [...]

How The Pinch Stole Healthcare.

shades — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Every Blue down in Blueville liked Healthcare a lot...

But the Pinch, who lived to the left of Healthcare did NOT!

The Pinch hated Healthcare, the whole Healthcare system!

Just don't ask why, only he had the wisdom.

It could be his head was screwed on to the left,

It could be his ears were plugged up and deaf.

But I think the most likely reason of all,

Was that he thought the Blues brains were much much too small.

But whatever t [...]

Goodbye Joe the Plumber. Hello Dan the Street Super.

shades — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Dan Crowell represents the changing face of health and healthcare in America. Dan is the street superintendent for the city of Lafayette, Indiana. Now I don't know Dan but I read about him JConline.com, the online edition of the Journal Courier Newspapers of Lafayette and West Lafayette Indiana.

Both cities, faced with ever rising healthcare costs have joined together to save money on health insurance and to promote healthier employees. One of the keys to their st [...]

Reading The Tea Leaves Of Obama's Healthcare Reform

shades — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

One thing everyone agreed on regarding the Obama presidential campaign was that he picked his messages and stuck to them. And one of the ones that stuck to me, in fact, with all the media coverage I felt like it was nailed to me with a hammer and sixteen penny nails, was the notion that if you liked the health plan your employer offered you could keep it, but if you didn't you could have the same insurance federal employees enjoy. And for employers if they didn't [...]

Politically Speaking, Is There A Middle Ground In Healthcare?

shades — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

Ron Klar, a guy way smarter than me when it comes to healthcare, the healthcare debate and fixing the problems related to our Nation's ills, wrote a terrific article just before the election entitled, AmericarePlans: A McCain-Obama Hybrid Proposal posted on Health Affairs, The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere. Being the last guy on the grape vine, it took awhile for me to intersect with his article.

I'm not going to regurgitate the article here as it is much bett [...]

It's Open Enrollment Season Out There. Are You the Hunter Or The Hunted?

shades — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

If you are one of those folks who dreads the open enrollment period for your health benefits, who puts their heads inside of their shell and basically runs and hides, I'm sorry to say, you are the hunted. If you simply sign up for whatever you had last year (but likely at a higher price, and possibly with reduced benefits) without doing your homework, you are the hunted. If you haven't figured out things like HSAs, HRAs, or FSAs, then you are the hunted. If you simpl [...]

Another $17 in My Health Savings Account (HSA) or is that My Hair Savings Account?

shades — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

When I was a kid, up until the age of about eleven, my Grandmother used to conduct Doctor Jekyl-like experiments on my hair with her handy scissors. I was a total toe head and when she was done they could have slapped me on the side of a paint can and called me the Little Dutch Boy.

I revolted at eleven and began a 30 plus year quest to find the perfect barber. Recently though, in my quest to save more money into my health savings account I decided to give Betty, my barber, [...]

Why Is Healthcare So Expensive? The Unscientific Top Ten Reasons Why.

shades — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

I have an HDHP. When I go to the Doctor to have them look at the creatures crawling around in my throat, causing me to itch all over, or making my hair fall out in clumps, I am expected to pick up the full tab until I hit my deductible. I even have a little stash of money, called an HSA to pay for it. BUT, I don't pay a nickel when the Doctor is done with me. Not immediately.

The Doctor has to put in a claim to my insurance company, the insurance company tell [...]

Are You A Savvy Health Savings Account Shopper?

shades — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

I came across an article in Wednesday's (10/29) edition of Workforce Management Magazine which was extracted from a presentation made by Maureen E. Sullivan, SVP Blue Cross Blue Shield Association at the National Consumer Driven Health Summit on October 20. The name of the presentation was called Health Plan Initiatives, Trends and Research in Consumer Driven Care. If you want the full download please click on either of the links above for loads of relevant statistics re [...]

Health Savings Account (HSA) Mindset And Chinese Fortune Cookies

shades — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

"A Thrifty Man Is A Free Man" Advice from my fortune cookie March 1982

Good advice during these strange and troubling economic times. Good advice anytime and way cheaper than a fortune teller (unless of course, the fortune teller is your crazy aunt Zelda).

The October 20th edition of Business Week offered up a timely article entitled, "The New Age of Frugality" by Steve Hamm. It discusses the tightening of spending by Americans with our contra [...]

That Health Savings Account (HSA) You Hooked Is One Big Fish

shades — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

You've just been enrolled in an HSA for the first time huh? You might feel like you just hooked a big nasty line pulling pike. That sucker is and bad and feels like he's pulling you all over the place. How in the world are you going to deal with it?

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKXjqsXj44Y 425x355]

If you have the right gear to reel it in, and maybe a cold Budweiser, you might just get him in the boat. Except for the chilly beer, that's [...]

HDHP Creativity - A Nugget of HSA Education

shades — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

If you read "High Deductible Health Plan - Rejected" you know that my family got rejected for our new HDHP plan when we tried to switch insurance providers. This is a brief update on where we stand presently. If you have found yourself in a similar situation, might find this somewhat worthwhile reading. The challenge with my current plan is that our provider seems to think that they need not provide us with any prescription coverage unless one of us is rolled into [...]

"Hows Yo Mamma?" Annual HDHP Enrollment & What is an HSA?

shades — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

About this time every year employers all over the nation unveil their latest, greatest insurance offerings for the coming year. They've worked over their brokers, agents, and consultants, dusted off a few old tricks and brought a couple new ones to the game. They've frosted up this package with Betty Crocker's finest, served it up on their finest china, put it on a fork and are now playing the "airplane" game with you.

Now you're probably thinking, " [...]

Individual vs. Family Deductibles and your HSA

shades — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

My family has had our High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) for just under one year, and last month we discovered that what we believed to be an embedded deductible was nothing of the sort. Huh? What's an embedded deductible you say?

When shopping for health insurance you'll often see an individual deductible and a family deductible quoted side by side. In our case the individual deductible was $5,200 and the family deductible was $10,400. From our reading o [...]

How To Avoid Being An HSA LOSER!

shades — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0100

It's really quite easy actually...

United Healthcare recently released the results of a survey they did on their HDHP policyholders. They took a look at the demographics and behavior of depositors and found that 86% of those surveyed opened health savings accounts when their employer contributes on their behalf. However, only 27% of consumers opened HSAs when their employer did not contribute.

Ok, so if you are new to health savings accounts (HSAs) and your employe [...]