HSA vs Regular Insurance?

Question

When you have a known major medical expense (major surgery) coming up in 3-5 years, is it smarter to invest in an HSA account with a high deductible plan or a regular insurance plan? In the US where healthcare sucks either way so trying to decide which is better through my employer.

Answer

The thing is that HSA is non taxed money (up to a certain limit) and can be transferred to another company should you happen to leave your current company for whatever reason. The money in an HSA is your money and you can use it to pay for medical expenses. As far as paying higher premiums for a lower deductible, it’s really what you prefer.. do you want more taken out of your check and pay less out of pocket, or do you want less taken from your check and pay higher out of pocket when you go to the dr or pay for prescriptions.

Answer

Does your employer contribute anything to your HSA if you choose the high deductible plan? Is your premium significantly lower? Most of the time, the HSA is the better deal. It just kind of depends on your plan and what medical expenses you have coming up.

Answer

If your place of work has a program where they’ll contribute to your HSA, I would go with that. If not, a moderate insurance plan may be better. 
When I was with IBM they put $500 a year into my HSA and there were extra things I could do to increase that amount (like not smoking, proving an active lifestyle with Fitbit stats, following a healthy eating program etc)

Answer

I do the mid range “normal” plan on my insurance. My thinking is if I have an emergency before the procedure I’m planning I’m not stuck with having to pay off the high deductible on the off chance I don’t have enough saved. I also still put money away to pay for medical expenses it just isn’t tied up in an HSA account. I had a baby last year and had enough saved to pay off the hospital in cash.

HSA vs Regular Insurance?

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