Healthcare HSA Option with Pregnant Wife?

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Topic Author
berg
Posts: 465
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 8:43 pm

Healthcare HSA Option with Pregnant Wife?

Post by berg »

My wife's insurance plan changes on July 1st. My company goes Jan. 1 to Dec 31st. This qualifies her to change her own plan or join mine on July 1st (as well as give me the option to switch mine on July 1st).

She is due to have our first baby in August. I've been running the numbers to try to see what makes the most sense. All of the non-HSA plans have large copays and deductibles for delivery, ranging from $450 to $840. With an out of pocket max set at $2k on one plan and $5k on the two others.

You can view a spreadsheet I made of the costs here: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s327/sh/ ... skitch.png

I'm leaning toward the HSA plan, even though with my estimates the PPO might be a cheaper, I worry that the estimates might be more off and I'll end up paying more out of pocket. Also, given that I know my wife will chew through the $1250 deductible on the HSA plan, that is the ceiling she will pay on all services the rest of the year, so don't need to worry about losing more. The max more we'd have to spend out of pocket would be $1250 for myself or our child if need be, but I'd assume if something big happened we'd be paying somewhat on another plan.

The other thing that seems attractive to me is getting an HSA in a year I know I will hit the deductible, at least for my wife. I'm thinking maybe I should max the HSA for the year @ $6450 which would save me from a 33% Federal tax rate and 5.3% for Massachusetts. In a worst case scenario, I will spend $2500 out of pockets on deductibles this year and still have $3950 left in an HSA.

Even if I switch back to a PPO on Jan. 1 2015 (which I expect to, given what I have been warned about the health care expenses of a baby), I'll still have at least $3950 of tax free money that I can use at any point over the next 35 years for health care expense.

Am I missing something or does this make a lot of sense?
davebarnes
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Topic Author
berg
Posts: 465
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 8:43 pm

Re: Healthcare HSA Option with Pregnant Wife?

Post by berg »

linakin
Posts: 152
Joined: Sun May 26, 2013 6:51 am

Re: Healthcare HSA Option with Pregnant Wife?

Post by linakin »

Maybe I'm misunderstanding how you have your plans laid out, but do you only need to pay the maternity copay for the entire pregnancy? I used to have a PPO insurance that charge $300 for the entire pregnancy and no other costs, even if you had a C-section.

Also, it's seems weird to me that your Max Out of Pocket for the CDHP is equal to the deductible. Most CDHP plans I've seen usually have something like a 1-3k deductible, and a 5-8k max out of pocket.
dandan14
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Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:32 am

Re: Healthcare HSA Option with Pregnant Wife?

Post by dandan14 »

Is the HSA deductible per person or per family? (Mine has both a individual and a family deductible.)
If it is per person, there would be a possibility of some stuff being billed under your wife and some under the baby.
Topic Author
berg
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Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 8:43 pm

Re: Healthcare HSA Option with Pregnant Wife?

Post by berg »

dandan14 wrote:Is the HSA deductible per person or per family? (Mine has both a individual and a family deductible.)
If it is per person, there would be a possibility of some stuff being billed under your wife and some under the baby.

That is a great point. It is $1250 per person, with a $2500 family max. I hadn't thought about how they bill that.

Do they not bill until the baby gets added to an insurance plan? How does that work. There is a scenario where my wife is on one plan and I'm on another plan with the baby...
linakin
Posts: 152
Joined: Sun May 26, 2013 6:51 am

Re: Healthcare HSA Option with Pregnant Wife?

Post by linakin »

You may get billed for some stuff to your wife, and some to your child depending on what happens.
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