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 legislation (IRS Notice 2008-104) awhile back mandating that in order for (FSA and HRA) healthcare debit cards to be acceptable forms of payment at certain merchants, those merchants were required to only be able to accept your card for what the government has determined is a "qualified medical expense."  The government says this is to help you out because the card issuer will be able to provide you/your employer with a consolidated back up report of your qualified medical expenses that you can then use as backup to your FSA and HRA disbursements.  Sounds good, right?  Well, maybe so until you walk into your local Walgreens, put a bag of cough drops and a bottle of shampoo on the counter and then have to pull out two different credit cards to pay for your $2.57 worth of stuff.

There are those in Congress who would like to extend this concept to your

Health Savings Account.   Which is redundant and ridiculous.  You see, by law, you are required to keep up with your qualified medical expenses and be able to provide them as backup to your taxes.  The IRS, if they don't like what you have submitted, has the right to audit you, which, I've heard is worst than a visit to the proctologist.

A new law (currently buried in committee) would put another layer of oversight by the government over your life, and puts an unnecessary level of infrastructure expense on merchants and debit/credit card issuers. 

Hey, if the merchants and issuers believe they can create a competitive advantage for their product, by being able to provide you with this level of reporting, then by all means, I say let them spend the money.  However,  mandates create costly inefficiencies, and I'm guessing this one, requiring merchants to be able to accept or deny a card based on the specific item purchased and them provide a report of those expenses at year end would cost somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars to execute.

  You are new to the world of High Deductible Health Plans, and your new plan is   HSA eligible, or perhaps you have an HSA but haven't had the time to open a corresponding Health Savings Account.  Or you opened an HSA but have put no money in it this year.  With Christmas, Hanukkah and the general holiday season upon us, you are light on cash and thinking maybe you'll hold back on that contribution to your HSA.

You know in your mind that your healthcare is more important than the new Wii under the tree, but irrational spending behavior has taken over and that HSA contribution just ain't happenin'.

Here's the good news; December 31st 2008 is not D-Day for your HSA contributions.  Although it is for getting the account set up if you want to get the tax benefits of it on your 2008 tax returns.

As an individual you may contribute $2,900 to your HSA for 2008 and as a family you may contribute $5,800 to your HSA.   However, if you can't make it before the end of the year you're not SOL because if you fund the account before April 15th 2009, you can still take the tax deduction on your 2008 returns.   So if your brain is in the spend mode as opposed to the save mode, you get a 100+ day grace period to put $s into your account and still get the full tax advantages of your contribution.  But in order to get the benefit, you MUST set up your HSA account set up before the end of this year.  It's holiday season, can you say grace?

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 simply do what your office "best friend" does, then unless they are a hunter and your family situation mirrors theirs exactly, then you are the hunted.

• On the other hand, if you read the insurance materials from cover-to-cover;
• If you know which doctors come with which insurance plan;
• If you understand the difference between the various premiums as well as the deductibles;
• If you understand the difference between HSAs, HRAs, and FSAs and fully utilize them within your plan;
• If you understand the differences between the drug coverage offered;
• If you know what you spent on health care in the current year for yourself and family including premiums, medications, OTC costs, and doctors visits;
• If you spent every nickle out of your FSA or made the maximum contribution to your HSA;
• If you understand the tax benefits of an HSA (if you have one or are considering one); then you are definitely the Hunter.

If you are the Hunted, it may not be too late and you still have a chance.

Hunters, to the extent you can "kick ass" when it comes to making healthcare decisions, you do it!!  

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?

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 what HSAeducator.com is all about; having the right gear.

If you feel like your line was hit hard by this new HDHP/HSA insurance plan, or maybe you are the pike on the line and your employer just rammed turned you, HSAeducator.com can definitely help you out.

As an opinion maker of uno, I recommend you look at your new insurance and savings plan you have as a gift.  I believe high deductible health plans when combined with health savings accounts can be a major part of America's solution to healthcare.  While they turn a lot of the responsibility for our health and healthcare over to us, they give us control too, and control is power.  You may not know it yet but dude (and fisherdudesses) with your HSA you've got the power.   

But you are new to the HSA fishing tournament and, I'm getting ahead of myself.  Before you can harness the power of your new HDHP and HSA, you've got to learn the language. 

It all starts right here.  HSAeducator.com starts by answering the basic HSA questions.  Things like:

• Ÿ How much can I contribute to my HSA each year?
• Ÿ What can I spend money from my HSA for?
• Ÿ Can I buy fishing lures with money from my HSA or maybe a new boat?
• Ÿ What happens if I put too much money into my HSA?
• Ÿ Do I have to use the bank my company is pushing for my HSA?
• Ÿ If I change jobs what happens to the money in my HSA?
• Ÿ What if I don't spend all the money in my HSA each year?
• Ÿ Should I try to spend the money in my HSA every year or let it pile up for something major?
• Ÿ Can I pay my HDHP premiums from my HSA?
• Ÿ Can I take my HSA contributions off my taxes?
• Ÿ Can I spend my HSA dollars on a back snapper?
• Ÿ Is an HSA the same as my FSA?

Good questions and they're all answered on HSAeducator.com.  Plus, if you have really specialized questions you can check out the health savings accounts discussion forum , ask your question and they'll give you an answer or maybe or someone else with an HSA can give you some guidance 

One more thing that makes HSAeducator.com different from say, that slick brochure your employer gave you, is that it's written in English.  Not the Queen's English, but plain old every day conversational English, not something that looks like it was written by a the U.S. Congress or some lawyer.   So while it is no your favorite "fishin' magazine," it's a damned sight closer than the Harvard Law Review.

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, "what's this hillbilly talking about?"  Tell me, am I right?  You've got your enrollment package, your employer is patting him or herself on the back at what a great job they did at keeping your premium from rising, or at least rising too much and you're saying, yeh, but what about my co-pays, why do I have to pay more for drugs, what about my deductible?

Health Savings Accounts are still relatively new, having just come into law at the end of 2003.  And every year, more and more employers are beginning to offer them to their employees.  Sometimes as an option for employees and sometimes as the only option for employees.

For the past couple of years, at this very time of year my friends come to me with quizzical and dim looks on their faces and begin asking me about the high deductible health plans (HDHPs) and health savings accounts (HSAs).  My friends are fairly bright folks, but as you know, the subject of insurance is about as exciting as a flat keg of beer at a fraternity band party.

They don't mind asking me about it because

Fellow Americans, on behalf of the Gradock Bulletin Staff, congratulations on surviving another annual Tax Filing Day, a day which can knock the bloom off of Spring.  Thankfully, the blooms come back quickly once that envelope gets dropped in the mail box.  And of course we would be remiss if we failed to wish the Pope a happy birthday. 

Now that we have all the pleasantries aside....

  But wait....there's more of Mrs. Clinton's plan 

  In addition to the dizzying array of private health insurance choices Hillary Clinton's healthcare plan advocates....there's even more.  If you would prefer a public plan, well you can have that too.

When we cranked up this website a few months ago, the top 3 issues leading into the 2008 political election were healthcare, immigration, and national defense. Yesterday we woke up, the market dropped 500 points, the Fed whacked interest rates by 75 basis points (that's .75% for those of us common folk who do not work in the banking business), the market bounced like a yoyo, foreign markets are moving like crazy too, and the #1 issue in the 2008 Presidential Election is "The Economy," whatever that means.....

I suppose to the average Joe, "the economy" means, whatever is either sucking money out of one's wallet or putting it in." Now if you've got an ARM and are having trouble making the payment I'm guessing "the economy" has been on your mind since before yesterday. If you go nuts seeing the price of gas bounce at the pump, then you're probably thinking about your "economy" once a week , while standing in the freezing cold with your hand frozen to the gas nozzle (hey, at least it's not your tongue). Or if you have been thrust into the world of Consumer Directed Health "the economy" rumbles through your mind every time you have to get a prescription filled or you are thinking about whether or not to take your kids to get their teeth cleaned, or you are deciding whether to hit the local emergency room or Minute Clinic to have a doctor or nurse look up your nose through the side of your head or down your throat.

For those of us with HSAs, we have begun to take control of our own "economy" in a smart kind of way. Now I am not saying that makes us particularly smart, at least not in the case of this writer, but it is, "prudent" as our former Commander and Chief, George H.W. would say.

You see, an HSA is a great financial tool. It can focus you on a savings mentality. It can be part of a smart financial strategy (we believe it is better than and IRA). They are tax smart (contributions are tax deductible and grow tax free). They help you manage your own "economy."