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Day 16 – Health Insurance
By JLP | April 13, 2006
I have to be honest with you. Of all the personal finance topics, health insurance (or any insurance for that matter) is my least favorite. I find the subject dry and boring. However, health insurance should be part of every financial plan.
Most people get their health insurance through their employer. Employer-sponsored health insurance is typically less expensive than health insurance you can buy on your own because the risk is spread out over a number of individuals rather than a single family. If you are eligible for employer-provided health insurance, GET IT!
There’s a new health insurance option available that seems to gaining some attention. It is called a Health Savings Account (HSA), which operates like an IRA for health expenses. An HSA must be paired with high-deductible health insurance. I’m still learning about these new accounts, so I’m definately not an authority on this topic. For more on HSAs, check out:
The Healthcare Cost Crisis: HSAs – Financial Planning Magazine. This article is written from the financial planners point-of-view.
All About HSAs (pdf) from the U. S. Department of the Treasury. I read through this booklet. It is a decent resource for HSAs.
HSA resource page on the U. S. Department of the Treasury’s website is also a pretty good resource.
The New Health Insurance Solution
Unfortunately, health insurance is not a popular topic among personal finance bloggers. However, here a few health insurance-related posts by other bloggers for you to check out.
FiveCentNickel:
Appeal Your Health Insurance Denials
Be on the Lookout for Medical Billing Errors
MyMoneyBlog:
Health
Savings Account Search – Pros, Cons, and Free eBook
MakeLoveNotDebt:
Topics: Basics, Financial Planning, Insurance | 1 Comment »
October 3rd, 2007 at 1:26 pm
You are wrong about employer sponsored healthcare insurance plans. They are not always the best buy. In fact depending on how much your employer pays of the premium, your age and your family’s health status you could be paying a great deal more for your coverage than you need to. For example; an employee working for a company that pays for the employee’s healthcare insurance and requires the employee to pay for his/her spouse and dependents will be charged at the group rate. If the group consists an older work force and your spouse and dependents are young and healthy you will likely pay to much for your coverage. For the same reason you cited, that is, the risk of the group is high so the costs are shared by all members of the group. In a case like this you would be better off taking the employer insurance for yourself and purchasing a individual policy for your spouse and dependents.