Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

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Topic Author
Invest_Wisely
Posts: 125
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:15 am

Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by Invest_Wisely »

It's that time of year...open enrollment, of course!

Navigating the health insurance landscape is such an arduous process, so I'm hoping bouncing some thoughts off the forum might help.

Currently my wife and I are on different health insurance plans because we've been undergoing fertility treatment the past year; her insurance covers the treatment, mine doesn't. This was a temporary move until we were successful. She's now pregnant (yay!), so now the next step...preparing to have a baby.

I imagine most on this forum favor an high deductible HSA plan, but I really have no idea what to expect in terms of costs of having a child. Does it still make sense to be on a high deductible plan the year you're expecting a birth?

I'm a federal employee, so there are literally dozens of plans to choose from. The HSA plans still require a premium, though some of that (~40-60% of premium, depending on the plan) is passed through to the HSA.

What sort of things should I be looking for or considering during this review period? I typically look at things like annual out-of-pocket max and differences between in-network and out-of-network maximums for catastrophic scenarios. Would love to hear your general thoughts or advice. Thanks.

A little about us:
Married
Me - 36 years old
Her - 32 years old
No debt
5 month emergency fund
Rent but saving to own
Both employed full time
Comparable salaries
24% Marginal Tax Bracket
15% yearly employed sponsored 401k/TSP
Both maxing out Roth IRAs
No kids (but one of the way)
oldfatguy
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by oldfatguy »

Invest_Wisely wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:07 am
I imagine most on this forum favor an high deductible HSA plan, ...
That depends on the specific numbers for each option available to you.
alerya
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by alerya »

Congratulations! You will certainly hit your out of pocket max when your wife has the baby, so to compare plans, you'll want to add YOUR annual cost for the premium to the out of pocket max. For the HSA plan(s), deduct any employer contributions to the HSA as well as any tax savings on the HSA contributions. This will provide you with your out of pocket expenses for the year and allow you to see which plan is in your best financial interest. Another thing to consider is whether or not the plan's deductible is embedded or aggregate. You'll also want to verify that all of your doctors (including wife's obstetrician and the baby's pediatrician) as well as the hospital your wife will deliver at are in network. Best of luck!
runner540
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by runner540 »

alerya wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:23 am Congratulations! You will certainly hit your out of pocket max when your wife has the baby, so to compare plans, you'll want to add YOUR annual cost for the premium to the out of pocket max. For the HSA plan(s), deduct any employer contributions to the HSA as well as any tax savings on the HSA contributions. This will provide you with your out of pocket expenses for the year and allow you to see which plan is in your best financial interest. Another thing to consider is whether or not the plan's deductible is embedded or aggregate. You'll also want to verify that all of your doctors (including wife's obstetrician and the baby's pediatrician) as well as the hospital your wife will deliver at are in network. Best of luck!
+1. Check the providers you want to use, and plan on hitting the OOP max. If you don't, that's great. And there will may be some tests and costs that you and doctors want to do, but are not covered at all (for example, my plan will cover only X sonograms during the pregnancy unless you have certain diagnostic codes), and don't count toward OOP max so set aside some other money for that stuff and plan to negotiate bills.
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Invest_Wisely
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by Invest_Wisely »

alerya wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:23 am Congratulations! You will certainly hit your out of pocket max when your wife has the baby, so to compare plans, you'll want to add YOUR annual cost for the premium to the out of pocket max. For the HSA plan(s), deduct any employer contributions to the HSA as well as any tax savings on the HSA contributions. This will provide you with your out of pocket expenses for the year and allow you to see which plan is in your best financial interest. Another thing to consider is whether or not the plan's deductible is embedded or aggregate. You'll also want to verify that all of your doctors (including wife's obstetrician and the baby's pediatrician) as well as the hospital your wife will deliver at are in network. Best of luck!
Thank you! All very great tips. I wasn't even aware of embedded vs aggregate deductibles.

Do you know whether the pass through premium contributions to the HSA are also tax deductible? I would assume so?
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Invest_Wisely
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by Invest_Wisely »

runner540 wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:37 am +1. Check the providers you want to use, and plan on hitting the OOP max. If you don't, that's great.
So is that assumption regardless of the high deductible or standard plan? One thing I haven't been able to wrap my head around is whether on a standard plan with a low(er) deductible, your total costs would come in substantially under the OOP max with having a baby? Some friends and colleagues I've spoken to say they only paid $1k-2k for a birth out of pocket with a typical (non-HDHP) plan, but obviously that's all anecdotal. That's a hard (impossible?) thing to validate or compare.
runner540
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by runner540 »

Invest_Wisely wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:54 am
runner540 wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:37 am +1. Check the providers you want to use, and plan on hitting the OOP max. If you don't, that's great.
So is that assumption regardless of the high deductible or standard plan? One thing I haven't been able to wrap my head around is whether on a standard plan with a low(er) deductible, your total costs would come in substantially under the OOP max with having a baby? Some friends and colleagues I've spoken to say they only paid $1k-2k for a birth out of pocket with a typical (non-HDHP) plan, but obviously that's all anecdotal. That's a hard (impossible?) thing to validate or compare.
Yes, I would plan on the OOP max on either plan. If your friends paid only $1-2k that is great, but not something you can count on. Every insurance plan is different, and every pregnancy/delivery is different and unpredictable. 1/10 of births are before 37 weeks. If you are facing complications and/or early delivery, the last thing you want to be worried about is money.
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crystalbank
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by crystalbank »

It's very complicated because non-HDHP plans have 'Copays' (generally don't get applied to deductible) for hospital stays and HDHP plans are billed differently without copays.

We're expecting a baby early next year too and decided to step up a tier from bronze to silver. Kaiser has a HDHP Silver plan (costs about $100 more per month) but the deductible is much lower ($3000/ in silver vs $6800 in bronze) with same OOP maximum. We did look into changing to a non-HDHP aka regular plan, but the costs are very opaque with co-pays included and decided to just stick with HSA compatible plan.

From what I've heard, be prepared to reach full deductibles for both the baby and the mother. Insurance companies wait until the baby gets a SSN and bill accordingly.
carne_asada
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by carne_asada »

One more thing to consider is individual vs family OOP maximums and deductibles. Newborn testing/shots and day-one in hospital pediatrician visits are all billed with your newborn as the patient and not the mother. Depending on the plan this could be a separate deductible from the mother( it was for me).

Also check if you have hospitalization indemnity coverage as an optional benefit. Depending on the details of your coverage you could get an extra few hundred dollars.
frugalmama
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by frugalmama »

alerya wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:23 am Congratulations! You will certainly hit your out of pocket max when your wife has the baby, so to compare plans, you'll want to add YOUR annual cost for the premium to the out of pocket max. For the HSA plan(s), deduct any employer contributions to the HSA as well as any tax savings on the HSA contributions. This will provide you with your out of pocket expenses for the year and allow you to see which plan is in your best financial interest. Another thing to consider is whether or not the plan's deductible is embedded or aggregate. You'll also want to verify that all of your doctors (including wife's obstetrician and the baby's pediatrician) as well as the hospital your wife will deliver at are in network. Best of luck!
I had a baby 3 months ago. Just FYI, I was not even close to hitting my OOP max, even with 13 people on the plan, other doctors' appointments, etc. There is a family deductible (10K) and an individual deductible on my plan as well as an OOP max several thousand more. The only thing that got me close was additional surgery in a surgery center which was much more expensive than having a baby as they don't operate on volume. It really comes down to the terms of your plan and how much "extra" monitoring, etc. you have to have as well as your prenegotiated rates and deductible/OOP max. Would I have come out better under a PPO? I don't think I would have based on my numbers. However, it all goes back to the fact that you don't know what services you are going to need before you need them. I have a lot of kids...only one ended up in the NICU and that was completely unexpected. However, that time was a huge bill and I hit both my deductible and OOP max and that time I may have come out better under a PPO because of the types of expenses. Some of it depends on how big the spread is between your non-high deductible options and your high deductible options are...mine are huge so I come out better still with my HD plan in most cases.

Congratulations to the OP!
alerya
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by alerya »

frugalmama wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 2:13 pm
alerya wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:23 am Congratulations! You will certainly hit your out of pocket max when your wife has the baby, so to compare plans, you'll want to add YOUR annual cost for the premium to the out of pocket max. For the HSA plan(s), deduct any employer contributions to the HSA as well as any tax savings on the HSA contributions. This will provide you with your out of pocket expenses for the year and allow you to see which plan is in your best financial interest. Another thing to consider is whether or not the plan's deductible is embedded or aggregate. You'll also want to verify that all of your doctors (including wife's obstetrician and the baby's pediatrician) as well as the hospital your wife will deliver at are in network. Best of luck!
I had a baby 3 months ago. Just FYI, I was not even close to hitting my OOP max, even with 13 people on the plan, other doctors' appointments, etc. There is a family deductible (10K) and an individual deductible on my plan as well as an OOP max several thousand more. The only thing that got me close was additional surgery in a surgery center which was much more expensive than having a baby as they don't operate on volume. It really comes down to the terms of your plan and how much "extra" monitoring, etc. you have to have as well as your prenegotiated rates and deductible/OOP max. Would I have come out better under a PPO? I don't think I would have based on my numbers. However, it all goes back to the fact that you don't know what services you are going to need before you need them. I have a lot of kids...only one ended up in the NICU and that was completely unexpected. However, that time was a huge bill and I hit both my deductible and OOP max and that time I may have come out better under a PPO because of the types of expenses. Some of it depends on how big the spread is between your non-high deductible options and your high deductible options are...mine are huge so I come out better still with my HD plan in most cases.

Congratulations to the OP!

That's interesting. I also just had a baby 3 weeks ago, and I very easily hit both the deductible and OOP max with my HDHP ($4500/$6000 individual) with just the hospital fees alone. The negotiated rate was several thousand dollars beyond this, and claims still haven't even been submitted yet from my OB, the anesthesiologist or the pediatrician. Are you sure all claims have completed processing from these various providers? I'm curious what your policy limits are. This was my third child, no complications, and the OOP max has always been far surpassed with each delivery. Congratulations on the new baby! :sharebeer

Edited to add: We'll also be hitting our family limits this year, $9000 deductible and $12,000 OOP max.
goflyers13
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by goflyers13 »

My wife and I had our first baby earlier this year, so I'll throw in my two cents. As others have mentioned, your decision will ultimately come down to the specific details of the plans available to you. You'll just have to run the numbers the best you can. In our case, it's cheaper to go with the high-deductible plan no matter what healthcare expenses we incur.

I wouldn't be so certain that you'll hit your out-of-pocket max. Our total bill for a routine delivery with an epidural came out to $10,000 before insurance. Look for a list of prices for common services on your hospital's website. Our hospital estimated that a routine delivery would cost $11,000, so they weren't too far off. Since our Q4 expenses from the previous year are applied to the current year deductible, we've only paid about $4500 out of pocket this year. Again, a lot depends on the specifics of your situation, but barring any unforeseen medical issue, we'll come up well short of our $7100 out of pocket max.

Best of luck, and congrats on the new addition to your family! It's tough for the first few months, but it'll all be worth it once you start sleeping through the night again.
orangejelloh
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by orangejelloh »

I think you really need to crunch the numbers and look at the specifics of each plan. Numerous similar posts have been made in the past.

As a federal employee, OP should check out the GEHA HDHP plan. The copay for maternity care is $0 after you hit the deductible, so I don't believe that you would come near the OOP for an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery.
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by grabiner »

orangejelloh wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 8:06 pm I think you really need to crunch the numbers and look at the specifics of each plan. Numerous similar posts have been made in the past.

As a federal employee, OP should check out the GEHA HDHP plan. The copay for maternity care is $0 after you hit the deductible, so I don't believe that you would come near the OOP for an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery.
And if you have complications, the HDHP provides much better coverage once you have met the deductible, so that makes it even more attractive. The worst case for HDHP versus conventional is usually if you hit the deductible exactly. And the way the government subsidizes the plans means that the government HDHP breaks even in that worst case at a tax rate around 30% (common for government employees in the DC area), even if you would have paid nothing under the standard plan.
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frugalmama
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by frugalmama »

alerya wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 2:50 pm
frugalmama wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 2:13 pm
alerya wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:23 am Congratulations! You will certainly hit your out of pocket max when your wife has the baby, so to compare plans, you'll want to add YOUR annual cost for the premium to the out of pocket max. For the HSA plan(s), deduct any employer contributions to the HSA as well as any tax savings on the HSA contributions. This will provide you with your out of pocket expenses for the year and allow you to see which plan is in your best financial interest. Another thing to consider is whether or not the plan's deductible is embedded or aggregate. You'll also want to verify that all of your doctors (including wife's obstetrician and the baby's pediatrician) as well as the hospital your wife will deliver at are in network. Best of luck!
I had a baby 3 months ago. Just FYI, I was not even close to hitting my OOP max, even with 13 people on the plan, other doctors' appointments, etc. There is a family deductible (10K) and an individual deductible on my plan as well as an OOP max several thousand more. The only thing that got me close was additional surgery in a surgery center which was much more expensive than having a baby as they don't operate on volume. It really comes down to the terms of your plan and how much "extra" monitoring, etc. you have to have as well as your prenegotiated rates and deductible/OOP max. Would I have come out better under a PPO? I don't think I would have based on my numbers. However, it all goes back to the fact that you don't know what services you are going to need before you need them. I have a lot of kids...only one ended up in the NICU and that was completely unexpected. However, that time was a huge bill and I hit both my deductible and OOP max and that time I may have come out better under a PPO because of the types of expenses. Some of it depends on how big the spread is between your non-high deductible options and your high deductible options are...mine are huge so I come out better still with my HD plan in most cases.

Congratulations to the OP!

That's interesting. I also just had a baby 3 weeks ago, and I very easily hit both the deductible and OOP max with my HDHP ($4500/$6000 individual) with just the hospital fees alone. The negotiated rate was several thousand dollars beyond this, and claims still haven't even been submitted yet from my OB, the anesthesiologist or the pediatrician. Are you sure all claims have completed processing from these various providers? I'm curious what your policy limits are. This was my third child, no complications, and the OOP max has always been far surpassed with each delivery. Congratulations on the new baby! :sharebeer

Edited to add: We'll also be hitting our family limits this year, $9000 deductible and $12,000 OOP max.
Congrats to you too! Yes, I'm positive that all claims have been submitted. This is my 11th child and we have never hit our OOP max except when I had a premie. My deductibles and OOP are higher than yours. We have a 6K individual, 10K Family deductible and a 13.5K OOP max...I think it actually just went up since our new year just started. (We pay 20% after our deductible). Unfortunately the premiums are very expensive for anything but a the one high deductible policy offered. What your deductible, prenegotiated rates, etc. are really matter.
UnLearnYourself
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by UnLearnYourself »

OP, I went through this this past year...and will be doing it again in 2020!

What month is your baby due?

We had one our first baby in February of 2019, and hit our max deductible of $2,750 via birth-related expenses right after she was born. For the rest of the year we've enjoyed our 10% coinsurance position for all other qualifying medical expenses, which has been very minimal costs to us. Further, as a result I've been able to do weekly accupuncture and chiropractic appointments at literally no cost to me. Actually my co-insurance would have been like $4 per visit but both practitioners basically said it's not worth their administrative time to bill me for the balance and my insurance paid them more than enough so they're letting me continue at no additional cost to myself.

In 2020 we will already be having our 2nd child in April. So for example I plan to cancel these accu/chiro appointments again until after the baby is born and I'm back in the co-insurance realm of expense (most likely...though I haven't crunched the numbers to see if that will help because we'll be hitting our max deductible anyways).

In the end our base premium + hitting the max deductible + the string of 10% co-insurances is still LESS than JUST the premiums for the PPO 90 and 100 options I have. Plus because I am maxing out my HSA and not spending all of that money I will be carrying over HSA money into next year that will fund the entirety of my next baby's birth.

After we're done having kids (#2 will be the last for me!) we plan to pay our medical expenses out of pocket and just let the HSA accrue hopefully until retirement.

For me it's High Deductible/HSA all the way.
cshell2
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by cshell2 »

I'm another one that never even came close to hitting my OOP max with either of my pregnancies/births...and it was low. Like 5K or something.
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anon_investor
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by anon_investor »

First off, CONGRATS!

HDHP+HSA vs. other options, as others have said really depends on plan specifics and whether there are any complications.

Personally, for both kids, my spouse had a lot of complications during the pregnancy each time (think multiple hospitalizations, tons of tests, etc.), and there were a crazy amount of medical bills generated even before the birth. The first kid had some minor complications post birth that generated some medical bills. The second kid has a lot of complications post birth that generated a lot of medical bills. Fortunately, spouse and both kids are 100% healthy now. With both kids we had a $0 deductible HMO plan with low co-pays and a low maximum out of pocket (around $1.3k). We generated a ton of medical bills, and we only paid $1.3k (plus premiums) each year we had a kid. The HMO plan in our case saved us a lot more than the HDHP+HSA (at least for the plans we were offered), since the HDHP maximum out of pocket (plus premiums) would was a lot more than the $1.3k+premiums (which were tax deductible). All this being said, if there are no complications HDHP+HSA probably has you out ahead. But sometimes it is better to be safe than sorry. Financially, the insurance did its job, and kept us from being financially ruined. Back then I did not have enough to max out my 401k, but we did max out our Roth IRAs and contribute enough to get 401k match. The real benefit of the HDHP+HSA is the lower premiums and access to HSA, but you just have to do that math to see if you come out better than with a different medical play type. Don't just model for best case scenario, also consider the worst case scenario.
index2max
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by index2max »

Invest_Wisely wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 10:07 am It's that time of year...open enrollment, of course!

Navigating the health insurance landscape is such an arduous process, so I'm hoping bouncing some thoughts off the forum might help.

Currently my wife and I are on different health insurance plans because we've been undergoing fertility treatment the past year; her insurance covers the treatment, mine doesn't. This was a temporary move until we were successful. She's now pregnant (yay!), so now the next step...preparing to have a baby.

I imagine most on this forum favor an high deductible HSA plan, but I really have no idea what to expect in terms of costs of having a child. Does it still make sense to be on a high deductible plan the year you're expecting a birth?

I'm a federal employee, so there are literally dozens of plans to choose from. The HSA plans still require a premium, though some of that (~40-60% of premium, depending on the plan) is passed through to the HSA.

What sort of things should I be looking for or considering during this review period? I typically look at things like annual out-of-pocket max and differences between in-network and out-of-network maximums for catastrophic scenarios. Would love to hear your general thoughts or advice. Thanks.

A little about us:
Married
Me - 36 years old
Her - 32 years old
No debt
5 month emergency fund
Rent but saving to own
Both employed full time
Comparable salaries
24% Marginal Tax Bracket
15% yearly employed sponsored 401k/TSP
Both maxing out Roth IRAs
No kids (but one of the way)
I would suggest calling your health insurance provider and ask if they can provide you an estimated cost for maternity care (doctor visits and delivery) at one or more hospitals/clinics in your area that you would consider using.

If they tell you they can’t give you price estimates, the next best thing would be to contact the billing department of your hospital or clinic, give them your name, birthdate and insurance ID number and tell them you would like a price estimate For maternity care. They should be able to tell you something that’s correct within $1000, for sure
Last edited by index2max on Thu Nov 07, 2019 3:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
deltaneutral83
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by deltaneutral83 »

When does the health plan move to a employee ==>employee + child, or a couple ==> family??? Do they just move you to the appropriate plan the day of the birth and give you credit toward your new deduc/oop max from the prior time of the year ?
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Invest_Wisely
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by Invest_Wisely »

UnLearnYourself wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 11:01 am OP, I went through this this past year...and will be doing it again in 2020!

What month is your baby due?
Appreciate the advice. Our baby is due in late May, so we would have some time to realize the gains from co-insurance for at least part of the year.
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Invest_Wisely
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by Invest_Wisely »

orangejelloh wrote: Wed Nov 06, 2019 8:06 pm I think you really need to crunch the numbers and look at the specifics of each plan. Numerous similar posts have been made in the past.

As a federal employee, OP should check out the GEHA HDHP plan. The copay for maternity care is $0 after you hit the deductible, so I don't believe that you would come near the OOP for an uncomplicated pregnancy and delivery.
Are you familiar with GEHA? The GEHA HDHP plan is one of the ones I'm considering. If you've had the plan, have you had a good experience with it?
seity
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by seity »

Get the non HDHP GEHA plan that covers maternity 100%
I paid $0 out of pocket for both my care and the birth of my children. Then switched to the HDHP GEHA and started maxing my HSA contributions. FYI - I had two of the easiest, complication free, super fast easy labor & pregnancies ever, but hospital costs are insane. Minimum cost hospital bills for a completely complication free labor and birth (even without any meds) were still high enough to make HDHP not worth it.
UnLearnYourself
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by UnLearnYourself »

seity wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 1:54 pm Get the non HDHP GEHA plan that covers maternity 100%
I paid $0 out of pocket for both my care and the birth of my children. Then switched to the HDHP GEHA and started maxing my HSA contributions. FYI - I had two of the easiest, complication free, super fast easy labor & pregnancies ever, but hospital costs are insane. Minimum cost hospital bills for a completely complication free labor and birth (even without any meds) were still high enough to make HDHP not worth it.
Were you able to change from HDHP to a standard plan mid-year?

If so, that's fantastic. For me I had to make the decision for the entire year and could only migrate plans during open enrollment. In my case for my plan options I considered doing what you outlined, and looking at the plan that would have paid 100% of the birth related expenses, my base premium alone was still higher than my HDHP premium + max OOP - employer contribution. So the math was a no brainer in that the absolute worst case scenario of the HDHP still cost me less than just the premium for other options, nevermind factoring in the tax savings on my out of pocket costs.
seity
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by seity »

UnLearnYourself wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 2:16 pm
seity wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 1:54 pm Get the non HDHP GEHA plan that covers maternity 100%
I paid $0 out of pocket for both my care and the birth of my children. Then switched to the HDHP GEHA and started maxing my HSA contributions. FYI - I had two of the easiest, complication free, super fast easy labor & pregnancies ever, but hospital costs are insane. Minimum cost hospital bills for a completely complication free labor and birth (even without any meds) were still high enough to make HDHP not worth it.
Were you able to change from HDHP to a standard plan mid-year?

If so, that's fantastic. For me I had to make the decision for the entire year and could only migrate plans during open enrollment. In my case for my plan options I considered doing what you outlined, and looking at the plan that would have paid 100% of the birth related expenses, my base premium alone was still higher than my HDHP premium + max OOP - employer contribution. So the math was a no brainer in that the absolute worst case scenario of the HDHP still cost me less than just the premium for other options, nevermind factoring in the tax savings on my out of pocket costs.
My children were both born early in the year. The birth of a child lets you change plans as a qualifying life event. I had the standard plan when we decided to try and get pregnant and kept it until the child was born. Covered all midwife visits, tests, and hospital. $0 copay, $0 deductible. My cost for the premiums was a lot less than the cost of all those combined would have been.
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Invest_Wisely
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Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by Invest_Wisely »

seity wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 1:54 pm Get the non HDHP GEHA plan that covers maternity 100%
I paid $0 out of pocket for both my care and the birth of my children. Then switched to the HDHP GEHA and started maxing my HSA contributions. FYI - I had two of the easiest, complication free, super fast easy labor & pregnancies ever, but hospital costs are insane. Minimum cost hospital bills for a completely complication free labor and birth (even without any meds) were still high enough to make HDHP not worth it.
The HDHP GEHA plan also covers maternity at 100%. Do you recommend the non-HDHP GEHA plan out of an abundance of caution? I suppose we'd still have a good 5-6 months to fund our HSA for the year if the child comes in late March.
seity
Posts: 111
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2017 10:55 am

Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by seity »

Invest_Wisely wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 2:35 pm
seity wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 1:54 pm Get the non HDHP GEHA plan that covers maternity 100%
I paid $0 out of pocket for both my care and the birth of my children. Then switched to the HDHP GEHA and started maxing my HSA contributions. FYI - I had two of the easiest, complication free, super fast easy labor & pregnancies ever, but hospital costs are insane. Minimum cost hospital bills for a completely complication free labor and birth (even without any meds) were still high enough to make HDHP not worth it.
The HDHP GEHA plan also covers maternity at 100%. Do you recommend the non-HDHP GEHA plan out of an abundance of caution? I suppose we'd still have a good 5-6 months to fund our HSA for the year if the child comes in late March.
It's covered 100% after you pay the deductible. You'd have to do the math. Difference in cost between the two plans, plus the cost of the deductible minus the HSA contribution. It's possible the HDHP comes out ahead compared to back when I was pregnant.
Topic Author
Invest_Wisely
Posts: 125
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2019 9:15 am

Re: Health Insurance - HSA during birth year?

Post by Invest_Wisely »

seity wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 3:26 pm
Invest_Wisely wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 2:35 pm
seity wrote: Thu Nov 07, 2019 1:54 pm Get the non HDHP GEHA plan that covers maternity 100%
I paid $0 out of pocket for both my care and the birth of my children. Then switched to the HDHP GEHA and started maxing my HSA contributions. FYI - I had two of the easiest, complication free, super fast easy labor & pregnancies ever, but hospital costs are insane. Minimum cost hospital bills for a completely complication free labor and birth (even without any meds) were still high enough to make HDHP not worth it.
The HDHP GEHA plan also covers maternity at 100%. Do you recommend the non-HDHP GEHA plan out of an abundance of caution? I suppose we'd still have a good 5-6 months to fund our HSA for the year if the child comes in late March.
It's covered 100% after you pay the deductible. You'd have to do the math. Difference in cost between the two plans, plus the cost of the deductible minus the HSA contribution. It's possible the HDHP comes out ahead compared to back when I was pregnant.
Ah, I see. Did not catch that. Thank you!
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