Comments on: Help! Health insurance – Blue Cross PPO, or Blue Cross HSA?

By: Trisha

Trisha — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 19:26:39 +0000

A year later, is HSA still working out for you? I just googled “HSA” and found your site. My company is presenting us with this option vs. the traditional PPO Plan and will contribute $500 to get us started. Although I have kids, they are covered under my husband’s insurance and so am I as a secondary insurance. So, it’s just me under my plan w/the now optional HSA. Can you let me know your thoughts now that it’s been a while? Are you saving more or less? Advantages/disadvantages? Thanks!

By: nc

nc — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:04:16 +0000

@TX Thanks for your comment; next time, please don’t bother with the profanity. If you have a HSA/HDHP combination that will allow that to happen, it is certainly not for you.. in our case, in every scenario we calculated that is realistic for us (including worst-case), the HSA/HDHP combo has been better for us. I don’t agree that I’m a jack-bleep, but I am a self-proclaimed idiot, so I agree 100% with that! :)

By: nc

nc — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 14:01:26 +0000

Yikes!

In our case, our maximum out-of-pocket on the HSA in conjunction with the payroll costs for the HDHP end up being less than what we are guaranteed to spend each year on copays for the PPO and payroll costs for the same.. but yeah, certainly need to compare the two plans, and make sure that you can afford the worst-case scenario on the HDHP.

Sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you.. thanks for the cautionary note!

By: Macrosoft

Macrosoft — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 22:31:25 +0000

I recently had an emergency appendix surgery, after all said and done my hospital bill came out to be $50000. Since it happened in April, not only my Aetna HSA got completely drained, I also had to pay for a lot of other treatments all out of pocket. I truly believe HSA may work for young professionals 25 – 35. For anyone else you are just taking an unnecessary financial risk by signing up for HSA.

By: TX

TX — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 22:16:10 +0000

@NC I thin you are a jack (censored) and an idiot. It will only take one accident to drain your HSA.
HSA is nothing but a rip off.

By: nc

nc — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 07:30:25 +0000

Glad to hear that this post was helpful for you! It’s been good for us so far.. no regrets on making the change.

You can always call your insurance company and ask for an estimate of ‘standard’ labor scenarios, but it varies so widely that I don’t know how useful that is. Have you checked to see if they do at least cap the out of pocket expenses at *some* point? I’ve heard of plans that do something along the lines of 100% copay until $x out of pocket, then 20% copay until $y out of pocket, after which everything is covered at 100%.. but every plan is different and I’m no expert in this area!

By: MMD

MMD — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 01:54:39 +0000

Thanks for posting this topic because I am wondering the same thing myself. I am leaning toward the HSA as well. The only thing that makes me hesitate is that we will likely have another baby next year. The way my husband’s HSA plan works is 90% of eligible expenses are covered after the $3000 deductible is met. So if by chance the labor and delivery bill is sky high, I could be out a decent amount still having to fork out the 10%. But the premium savings over the PPO is really attractive… Anyway, I appreciate you sharing your opinion!

By: nc

nc — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:40:08 +0000

Thanks for the opinion Roland.. I think. ;)

By: Roland

Roland — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:21:18 +0000

nc you come off as pompous. Your posts appear to be boastful of your current medical situation and ability to easily cover your deductible. I’m sure that your arrogance rubs those around you the wrong way, perhaps you should ask them about it if you don’t believe me.

By: nc

nc — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:17:21 +0000

Indeed it is helpful, thanks!

I am saving nearly $2000/yr in premiums, and our deductible is only $3000, so hoping it will work in our favor. ;)

By: Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 02:09:52 +0000

Hey just to add my $.02 – I have a wife and son (now 19) on our HSA that we’ve been on since 2006 and it was working great as all 3 of us are in decent health – my employee put in $1800 per yr and we were spending mostly less than $1000/yr on medical – so we were saving around $800 or more per yr – that was until our son was snow boarding and came down wrong – just broke a bone in his left hand – 2 ERs, then surgery – followed by another since the first didn’t take and now therapy. Needless to say our $5200 max was drained nearly instantly. I switched back to PPO since the deductible is going from $5200/yr for family to $7000 and the Premium that comes out of my check is really no different from the PPO – so esp since I have an active 19 yr old – I’m going the safe route – PPO – until it us just wife and I , I think PPO is the best choice – it only takes 1 significant exp for PPO to be worth it – hope this is helpful

By: why i made a “stupid” financial move – intentionally

why i made a “stupid” financial move – intentionally — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:33:12 +0000

[...] my previous post, I mentioned that we were debating making the switch from a PPO to an HSA. Thanks to all who [...]

By: nc

nc — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:00:49 +0000

We decided to go with the HSA.. here’s hoping it was a good decision! ;)

By: nc

nc — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:15:55 +0000

@Jason ah, yeah, good point.. I always forget about the payment option.. thanks!

By: Jason Tait

Jason Tait — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:13:29 +0000

we switched to an HSA last year and have not had any problems. I am not sure what your plan says but typically most preventitive care is covered. Even if something bad happens right away most places will let you make payments of you can’t cover the cost up front. if you have other questions youknow how to find us.

By: nc

nc — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:12:05 +0000

@amanda Thanks! That’s pretty much what I’ve been thinking… so I can actually have them drop 3k in the account right away and do payroll deductions for it throughout the year – that would be friggin COOL.

Thanks!

By: amanda laughton

amanda laughton — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:04:25 +0000

IMHO the HSA will be a better bet in the long run, I would suggest a health savings account if your work offers one,that will then take the 3000 out of pocket, and take it out over all your paychecks for the year, but allowing you the full 3000 upfront. I spent a TON on money on medical each year, and hitting that out of pocket is a huge stress reduction for me at least. I hit my out of pocket by about May normally.