6 thoughts on “How To Protect Yourself Against ObamaCare”
Those are good tips and worth considering.
However I’m under the impression that HSA’s have been under attack by the administration with a view to eliminating or severely restricting them.
To me the ideal situation would be an HSA for typical things like yearly physicals and minor illnesses, along with catastrophic illness insurance. Not sure I will have that option.
“HSAs?!? Where’s the cross-subsidy in that?”
I think they already increased the deductible on my mine a while back. And then I got a letter not long ago saying something about the cap on my tax exempt contributions was lowered. So, you need more money squirreled away but don’t get the benefit of the tax exemption to actually save enough to cover the deductible. And they are more complicated when it comes time to file for taxes. You may need up to three additional forms.
Yep, lower caps on HSAs now. I expect the number 1 way to get better care will be cash under the table.
Something that is never mentioned or overlooked in these type of analyses is that a large number of doctors will opt out of accepting insurance and operate on cash fee for service basis. This is already a trend as private carriers, medicare and medicaid turn the screws on providers with smaller reimbursements and onerous stipulations. My dermatologist does not accept any insurance re-imbursements, charges reasonable fees upon delivery, makes a good living, is happy(unlike most doctors I know) and has many happy patients.
Couple that with an ever larger cohort of uninsureds, owing to the perverse incentives in the ACA, and you will actually have something approaching a free market in healthcare system operating separately from the regulated ACA insurances system.
You know, this could be the start of a beautiful thing…..
Those are good tips and worth considering.
However I’m under the impression that HSA’s have been under attack by the administration with a view to eliminating or severely restricting them.
To me the ideal situation would be an HSA for typical things like yearly physicals and minor illnesses, along with catastrophic illness insurance. Not sure I will have that option.
“HSAs?!? Where’s the cross-subsidy in that?”
I think they already increased the deductible on my mine a while back. And then I got a letter not long ago saying something about the cap on my tax exempt contributions was lowered. So, you need more money squirreled away but don’t get the benefit of the tax exemption to actually save enough to cover the deductible. And they are more complicated when it comes time to file for taxes. You may need up to three additional forms.
Yep, lower caps on HSAs now. I expect the number 1 way to get better care will be cash under the table.
Something that is never mentioned or overlooked in these type of analyses is that a large number of doctors will opt out of accepting insurance and operate on cash fee for service basis. This is already a trend as private carriers, medicare and medicaid turn the screws on providers with smaller reimbursements and onerous stipulations. My dermatologist does not accept any insurance re-imbursements, charges reasonable fees upon delivery, makes a good living, is happy(unlike most doctors I know) and has many happy patients.
Couple that with an ever larger cohort of uninsureds, owing to the perverse incentives in the ACA, and you will actually have something approaching a free market in healthcare system operating separately from the regulated ACA insurances system.
You know, this could be the start of a beautiful thing…..