Blog Entries tagged 'insurance'

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 [...]

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 [...]

So What's Going On In E-Health?

shades — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:00:00 +0100

If you have read the last two postings ("What the Heck is E-Health" and "E-Health and Health Savings Accounts") you know what e-health is. Now the question is, where is it going?

There's a good article in the December 8th edition of Business Week on E-Health. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Wal-Mart (who began offering Health Savings Accounts in 2006 as a means to provide health benefits to its 1MM+ employees) will offer its 1MM benefits eligib [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Beans, Tea Parties, Witch Trials - Massachusetts Healthcare Reform 2009

shades — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:00:00 +0100

About the only things I know about Massachusetts have to do with beans (Blazing Saddles), a bunch of whiteys dressed up as Indians (wonder if they were wearing wigs?), and burning witches at the stake (now that's hot).

Being from the Deep South, my purview of the rest of the country is somewhat narrow, and I suppose for every one of us, there is enough history, news, and politics in our own states to keep up narrowly focused and narrowly minded for a lifetime. Thank God, [...]

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 [...]

I Heart Health Care For America Now...

shades — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 23:00:00 +0100

....NOT!

I saw a humorous YouTube video which led me down an interesting path of reflection and reinforced the extremes in thinking some people have on healthcare in America. Healthcare is a complicated social issue, and to the best of my knowledge there is only one only perfect solution. And that's perfect health.

I've included the video here as it is humorous, but I present it with a large caveat. Health insurance in America is in [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

High Deductible Health Plan - REJECTED!

shades — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:00:00 +0100

I received a letter last night from the insurance that had the cooling effect of a walk-in refrigerator. I got a "Dear John" letter from the company I thought was going to underwrite my new HDHP.

My family with what I thought was not a major exception, is in terrific health. My wife suffers from migraines which did not disqualify us from being covered last year with our current insurance company.

I know I can re-up with my current company, bu [...]

Health Savings Account 'Grab Bag' 101 - Yes You Can Have An HRA...

shades — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:00:00 +0100

...which stands for Health Reimbursement Arrangement or an FSA (flexible spending account) and still be HSA eligible. There are some rules around this which we are not going to cover here.

Say your back goes all wiggly and you need to go see your favorite back snapper, Dr. Flickfinger. Unfortunately, your high deductible health plan (HDHP) does not cover chiropractic, but lucky for you, your employer contributes to an HRA (or FSA) on your behalf. Say you rack up (bad c [...]