Blog Entries tagged 'Health Savings Accounts'

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 [...]

And The Best Medicine Is.......

shades — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sUL0KCIc48 425x355]

Happy and Blessed Holidays From the Folks at HSAeducator.com

....and don't forget to open your HSA before 12/31 and fund it before 4/15/09 to take be able to take the tax deduction.

Which Bank Should I Select For My HSA Deposits?

shades — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

This is a good question and varies based on your specific needs, which, by the way will change as you accumulate money into your HSA account.

If you would like to start a discussion on this topic, we invite you to start a thread on the HSAeducator Forum, you can click here to get there and start a conversation based on your own needs. You will need to register on this site to participate, but it only takes a few seconds, and you are already here.

As an alternative, if [...]

A Soulful And Healthy HSA Christmas

shades — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

From time to time here at the Gradock Bulletin we try to keep things real with a little JB. The Godfather left us two years ago this month. Inspite of his challenges and struggles he left us with much good cheer and some incredible inspiration to "Get Up Off That Thing."

At this time of year, as you may be pondering with some stress, your benefits enrollment, entering the world of high deductible health plans and health savings accounts, we'd like to suggest that you [...]

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 [...]

An HSA Tax Tip

shades — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Health Savings Account 'Grab Bag' 101- Faux High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs)

shades — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 23:00:00 +0100

There are plans out there that have "high deductibles," but this, in and of itself does not qualify it as a high deductible health plan (HDHP). While it is possible for an HSA qualified plan to restrict some benefits, it MUST provide significant benefits to qualify both a real high deductible health plan and for health savings account.

For example, if you are looking at a plan that offers you significant in-patient care (something happens and you get admitted to the hosp [...]

A Little Detour From The HSA �Grab Bag� 101�Halleluiah�s All Around

shades — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:00:00 +0100

For those folks glued to this blog to learn about the whole ‘Grab Bag' thing, fear not. For as best we can tell it pretty much goes into perpetuity. However, it is definitely time for the staff at Gradock to take a break and cover some other ground.

It is hard to believe it's been almost a year since we plunged into the world of high deductible health plans (HDHPs) and health savings accounts (HSAs). And brothers and sisters have we learned a lot. I [...]

HSA 'Grab Bag' 101 - If It's Free, Is An HSA for Me?

shades — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:00:00 +0100

And the answer is......maybe. Sorry, black and whiters, that's just the way it is.

It depends on the type of free or in this case, discounted care you receive. So as an example if your employer has a clinic where you can go for a flu shot, or say get your allergy shots, or maybe to get an aspirin when you have a headache, or maybe to have a wart looked at or maybe get some antiseptic and a bandaid if you cut yourself opening a box or something you would still be eligible for an HSA.

HSA 'Grab Bag' 101 - Medicare Part D

shades — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:00:00 +0100

So if this is your first exposure to the Gradock Bulletin's ‘Grab Bag Series' you are kind of jumping into the middle of the game. No problem with that but you may want to go back and read the first one or two in the series that started this little snowball (and it's still fairly little right now) down the hill.

Also, if you read this on a fairly regularly basis you might be used to a bit more humor (or attempts at it anyway) than has been injected in [...]

Health Savings Account 'Grab Bag' 101

shades — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:00:00 +0100

The Grab Bag is served up as a series of 42 questions and answers. As mentioned in our last posting, we promise not to subject you to them all at once. The questions are broken up into 7 categories as follows:

Eligible Individuals

High Deductible Health Plans

Contributions

Distributions

Prohibited Transactions

Establishing an HSA

Administration

If in the review of any of the Q&A put forth in the Grab Bag, you should find that it speci [...]

Health Savings Accounts And The Little Red Roof

shades — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 23:00:00 +0100

If you read both articles on haircuts; doing them yourself and putting the difference into your Health Savings Account; you may be thinking, this guy is a little over the top. After the haircut, there's not much left on top for sure.

Anyway, thinking about ways to save money to put into your HSA can be quite an interesting mental exercise. At the Gradock Bulletin some might say that I am obsessed with it. I am always coming up with these hair brained schemes to put [...]

Health Savings Accounts And My Left Ear

shades — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:00:00 +0100

It's been 77 days since I moved $17 from my "Hair Savings Account" into my Health Savings Account. This , the result of a bold experiment involving my wife, some sheers, and my generally thrifty disposition. The entire hair lowering experience was all documented (and wildly popular) in the article on HSAeducator.com entitled "Hair Savings Account - HSA" . Well, I'm hair to tell you, while I may be dumb, I am also slow. I am also a cheap a [...]

HSA - What is a Health Savings Account?

shades — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:00:00 +0100

Sometimes on this blog we wander into the various minutia of High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs) and HSAs, and occasionally need to step back for folks who are just being introduced to these new concepts. It is easy to get into the weeds but we all have to start somewhere.

Unlike the typical boring, snoring, coma inducing videos on the benefits of HSAs which can tell you everything you need to know about HSAs, provided you can listen and learn while sleeping, below is a [...]

Shady Acres (part II)

shades — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:00:00 +0100

If you want to catch up with this posting, go back and read the last one because this is, as the title cleverly suggests, Part II.

A few months later Mom, in a lucid moment comes to the realization that her house is falling apart all around her and that there is no way she can live alone anymore. So Beverly puts her job on hold (again) hops in her truck and drives back to California.

Once in California, she shuts down the house, turns out the lights, and puts the house up for sal [...]