VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Diane Maggipinto]

i'm on the family plan with my dh's employer, with a high deductible. he opened an hsa but it may be more like a flex plan, tied to the insurance plan.

do you know if i, too, can open an hsa? dh has been dragging feet on depositing money into the account, and he has to do it because of the association with employer health plan.

long question short --> do you have both health insurance through your spouse and your own self-employed-eligible hsa? if you have an hsa, where did you set it up? i asked at the credit union (my bank) and got a very blank look back.

thanks in advance.
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sitting at #8, though not as present as I'd like to be. Hello!

www.d3voiceworks.com

[vkuehn]

On the legal technicalities, you need advice from a TAX expert. Anyone can set up an account at a bank to hide money from themselves for health expenses, college expenses or that once in a life-time trip to Europe. But an HSA has tax advantages. Only a TAX EXPERT will likely be able to guide you.

This is the year that the benefits of Obamacare, and the problems of Obamacare come into effect. If you are piggy-backing the financing of your healthcare expenses on a high deductible plan available to a spouse, find out if 'employer of spouse' plans big changes to be in compliance with Obamacare requirements and opportunities. The big news the last two days has been about some big, well known companies are going to refuse to insure the spouse under certain conditions because Obamacare calls for the spouse to have alternate health coverage available.

Depending on your age, and your health, there comes a time in life when the HSA may not be as practical as a finance vehicle of your healthcare.

[CarynClark]

Funny, I just opened an HSA account last week, per the advice of my accountant. And when I asked questions at the bank, they gave me what I bet was a similar blank look.

http://www.hsacenter.com/qualified-med-expenses.html

But, I don't know. Your accountant will know, though!!
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Caryn Clark... The Hip Chick Voice!

"A positive mental attitude and having faith in your ability is quite different from being irresponsible and downright stupid." - Dave

[Diane Maggipinto]

caryn, thank you. i'm surprised more of the self-employed here don't have an hsa. it is a great tax benefit, and helps draw down the bottom line so that's X amount less to be taxed on.

from the site, and thanks for the link:

What are the tax benefits?
There are three major tax advantages to your HSA.
1) Cash contributions to an HSA are 100% deductible from your federal gross income (within legal limits).
2) Interest earnings accumulate tax-deferred.
3) Withdrawals from an HSA for “qualified medical expenses” are free from federal income tax.
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sitting at #8, though not as present as I'd like to be. Hello!

www.d3voiceworks.com

[CarynClark]

True that!! Great tax benefit.

And, my insurance deductible is $10k, so...
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Caryn Clark... The Hip Chick Voice!

"A positive mental attitude and having faith in your ability is quite different from being irresponsible and downright stupid." - Dave

[Jeffrey Kafer]

Understand that your health plan has to have specific things to qualify for an HSA. Any old health plan won't work. Ours doesn't.

I'm not a tax expert, but if you file jointly with your hubby, then you should be able to contribute. The IRS doesn't see income as yours or his, but both combined as one lump total.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

[Eddie Eagle]

I'll just beat Bruce to this line.
I'm not a tax expert, but, I've played one on TV.

[bransom]

Here's how we solved our insurance issue: my wife got a part-time job at Starbucks. It's great insurance and runs us a bit over $400/mo for family coverage. No insanely high deductible, claims aren't randomly denied on a whim like some previous insurance we had, and includes vision and dental. It's been SO much better than what we dealt with when buying insurance ourselves.

Of course, most of her paycheck goes towards paying those insurance premiums but that's okay. It also helps that she's been a coffee geek for years and enjoys the work.

It should also be noted that Starbucks spends more on employee health insurance than it does on coffee which just leaves me shaking my head at our modern American health care system.
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Bob Ransom
"I really need a pithy quote here."

[Diane Maggipinto]

i'm uncertain if i'm regarded as a "dependent" because it's dh's health insurance plan and if so, than i'm ineligible to open an hsa. i certainly can contribute to his, but wonder if an hsa needs to be tied in some way to a health insurance plan.

for dental costs, aryana's glasses, and every other little and big thing (like massage and root canal etc) i'm throwing down the credit card to pay when i'd rather pay with an hsa debit card .......
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sitting at #8, though not as present as I'd like to be. Hello!

www.d3voiceworks.com

[Jeffrey Kafer]

You can't open another HSA against hubby's health plan. And I don't know why you'd want to when you can contribute to his.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com