HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS (HSA'S)- The future of health insurance

I get a lot of questions about HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS ( HSA's), these days. I am normally asked what are they and why are they good. What makes them unique.

So he we go, All about HSA's in a 10 minutes or less.

I refer to Health Savings Accounts as more like the Jiffy Lube of health insurance. I say that because with car insurance, if you need tires, your insurance does not pay for it, if you need an oil change your car insurance does not pay for that either. An HSA,kind of works the same way.

HSA's were created in Medicare legislation and signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 8th 2003. They were originally called Medical Savings Accounts (MSA) designed by Senator Bill Archer of Texas.

Mr. Archer realized that the two major benefits of health insurance that added the most cost were having prescription medication and doctor vist co-pays as part of the insurance policy. He believed if you eliminated that part of the plan,but still had the catestropic coverage, you would reduce premiums. He was correct.

IS IT WORTH GIVING UP DOCTOR VISITS???

The same question was proposed to Mr. Archer in the late 1990's. He said we have to make it worth it.

They came up with what in simplifed terms is a MEDICAL IRA. ( which is what the hsa is). It functions like an IRA, grows tax deffered and you fund it the same way. It is a 100% tax deductible account.

You can take the money you put into the account out for doctor visits or any medical expense. You put it in tax deferred, it comes out tax deferred ( for medical expenses).

For the year 2010 single policy holders can fund their HSA up to $3050 per year. A family plan can fund it up to $6150. Like an IRA if you are over age 55 you may add an additional $1000 per year.

The great thing about HSA's is you are not paying for benefits that you are not usings. If you do not see a doctor more than once a year, these plans are ideal for you. Of course, you save on premium.

ADDITIONAL FACTS:(sourse- Government Accountabilty Office)

In 2009 HSA's covered 10.5 Million lives in America

33% of all HSA participants have incomes of less than $35,000 per year.
36% of of all HSA participants did not previously have health insurance.
Consumers save and average of $1900 in the first year of owning the policy.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

www.treas.gov
www.irs.gov/publications/p52/index.html


Eric Wilson, is the owner of the insurance agency I Sell Health, Inc. in the Chicago area. He services, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illionis. You can reach him toll free at 888-448-5370 or online at www.isellhealth.net.

Let Me Reform the Healthcare System in America

For about a year now, we have heard almost daily about the Healthcare reform bill in both the house and the senate. We then saw Scott Brown win the Massachusetts Senate seat, which gave the Republicans enough votes to block the health care reform bill.

Let me take the politics out of the program and speak as an AMERICAN BUSINESS OWNER. Yes, I am a business owner who sells health insurance, but I think I could fix this thing in about 20 minutes.

Here are the issues that we need to discuss all encompassing health care reform, NOT JUST INSURANCE COMPANY REFORM.

First we need TORT Reform. We need to put aside some of these malpractice claims and let the Doctors do their job. My doctor in Illinois pays over $100,000 a year just for Malpractice insurance. Now do you think that effects what he charges for an appointment? You bet it does.

HOSPITAL CHARGES- it is interesting when you go to the grocery store you know what everything costs, or if you go to a car dealership, you know what it costs. Have surgery, have no idea what it costs. I am working with one of my clients right now who gave birth by C-section. That is not unusual. The epidural needle that my client was given, any guesses what that cost was? $14,000. I will say that again, $14,000. Now the insurance paid what they thought was "customary" and paid $5000. I think $5,000 is probably a fair price for a needle in the back. I do not know what the customary charges are for that, but $14,000 seems absurd.

PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS- this is one is a hard one for me. If you make covering pre-existing conditions mandatory, either the premiums go up for everyone, or I could go without insurance until I was really sick, so that really does not seem fair to everyone. How about this idea, If you HAVE INSURANCE either through a job or a private policy, you cannot be denied coverage because you played by the right rules, if you chose not to purchase insurance through either your job or a private plan, You can then be denied.

INSURANCE THROUGH YOUR JOB- This is part of the problem with the American System of health care to begin with. I do not know why it is my company's responsibilty to insure me. It is a nice perk, but if we eliminated the "GROUP HEALTH" through a job, Everyone would either buy a private plan when they got off their parents plan, or they would go without insurance. If you got insurance when you are 18 or 19 years old, in most cases, you are healthy enough to purchase a plan. What if we made buying health insurance like a medicare supplement policy. With Medicare Supplement you enter a Guarantee Issue period when you turn 65. You have basically six months, with no underwriting. We could do the same with the under 65 market. When you turn 18, or stop being a full time student, you get a guarantee issue period. If you choose to enroll at that time, you are insurable for the rest of your life, so long as you keep making your premium payments.

If more people purchase insurance especially at a young age, it will off set the sick people when they are older, that will keep premiums down. That combined with my other few topics, should be the blueprint our Congressmen should follow.

I have been writing now for about 20 minutes so I will stop. There are a lot of other good ideas such as allowing to purchase across state lines, making plans more catestrophic in nature, and tax credits for purchasing health care. All should be explored.

Eric Wilson is President of I Sell Health, Inc. He cover the Midwestern States. He can be reached toll free at 888-448-5370 or online at www.isellhealth.net

What is mortgage term insurance and should we buy it.

I had lunch with a friend of mine last week. He had just refinanced his home. He said it was amazing how many letters he received about purchasing Mortgage term insurance.

I gave him a reccomendation. DO NOT BUY MORTGAGE TERM INSURANCE. If you are smart, you can purchase a TERM LIFE insurance in the amount of your mortgage maybe even more for probably 10% less money, and you will be protecting you and not the bank.

With a mortgage term policy, if you die, your mortgage gets paid, that is it. The bank gets thier money, nothing left for the family.

With a TERM LIFE, if you die, and I really hope you do not. Your beneficiaries get the money to do what they want with it. Paying the mortgage off, might be what they do with it, or maybe they are paying tuition. Either way, there is more flexibilty in a term life product.

Eric Wilson is President of I Sell Health, Inc.
He is based in the Chicago area and covers 5 midwest states. He can be reached at 888-448-5370

Massachusetts is America!!

The Massachusetts Senate Election yesterday, was America taking its country back. It was great to see. A state known as the most liberal states, saw the independent voters come out and oppose what is going on in Washington. With it, the Senate lost the vote it needs to pass health care reform. I have been singing the Don Mclean song American Pie all day, but instead of the line "the day, the music died." I keep thinking the day health care reform died. At least the bills on the table now that are loaded with higher taxes, less choice and bribes to Nebraska and Lousiana.

I am a believer that the system needs fixed, but again, look at the poles, only 32% of Americans wanted the bill that was being rammed through Congress. We elect officials to be our representation to do what WE WANT, not their own liberal agenda ( or conservative agenda if that is the case).

Massachusetts sent a message yesterday to Washington, that America, and this still is America, a government for the people by the people, is tired of how things are being done in Washington.

I hope now they will listen.

Eric Wilson, is the president of I Sell Health, Inc. A Chicago area insurance agent who serves the Mid-west. He can be reached at 888-448-5370. You can visit online at www.isellhealth.net or email him at isellhealth@gmail.com.

Health Care Vs. Health Insurance

Some where, some how, our government got the notion that if everyone had health insurance we would have better health. That is what I am taking from health care reform. As far as I can tell, saying that everyone has health insurance does not mean anything. Britian has reported as recently as 2007 that at any given time between 900,000 and 1,000,000 people were waiting for admission to National Health Care Hospitals. Sweeden you can wait 25 weeks for HEART SURGERY, while a hip replacement could take a year.

Those who support Universal Health Care, fear people will be denied the care they need. Americans already have access to emergency care, regardless of their ability to pay. To see your local physician, you do not need insurance, they accept cash.

In 2006, the New England Journal of Medicine found that although too many Americans were not receiving the appropriate standard of care, "health insurance status was largely unrelated to the quality of care".

It has been stated recently that our reform to cover everyone will actually increase the cost of private insurance by 15%. I am really hoping to keep my costs down, and will I still get my tax deduction for purchasing my own insurance??

Some things to consider.

Eric Wilson is a health insurance broker in the Chicago area.
He can be reached at 888-448-5370

Why does health care reform mean health insurance reform??

I was dealing with a few of my clients recently. Different charges, sometimes outrageous, and I need to know why.

A month ago I had a client who gave birth, nothing unusual about that. The client was billed $14,000 for an epidural. That is right, when I tried to protest it, they said that is what we charge. The insurance companies pay what they consider to be a reasonable amount. The company in question paid $4500, which I think is reasonable. The insurance companies are under attack daily with the democrats and republicans and the lobbiest. Does anyone else think $14,000 was a bit too much.

Another client had an MRI done, it costs $2000, the insurance company eventually paid it, but initially paid $900 which is what they thought was reasonable. I have seen MRI's as low as about $750 and as high as $2300. They do the same thing, why the descrepancy??

Maybe we need to reform what can be charged for services. Or at least have it publized like when you go to the grocery store. The cost of this test is $650. You could then call your insurance carrier and determine if you want to have the test done there.

In the hospital, you have no power there as a consumer, perhaps they could only be allowed to collect reasonable charges??

Eric Wilson is an insurance broker in the Chicago Area. He can be reached at 815-372-1363 or by email at isellhealth@gmail.com.

More on health care reform

As you can imagine, I follow the health care reform issues very closely. I probably read no less than 5 articles per day and sometimes more. Here is a big one that has surfaced over the last week. Advocates of Government run health care believe that Americans get too many Mammograms, and in the health care bill that recently passed the Senate vote, it states that no benefits will be paid for Mammograms for women under age 50. This is on the PUBLIC OPTION only, all health insurance companies, still say they will continue to cover these expenses.

What is being missed here is that in the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, and the reformers do not seem to realize is that America has the highest cancer survival rates in the world. As far as this writer and voter can see, SCREENING SAVES LIVES.

The other major issue with the health care bill ( there are many issues, but one that is not being talked about, is that they say you can keep your current insurance. What they do not tell you, is written on page 92, is that it will not be legal to purchase private insurance. Therefore, if your private carrier increases your premium, you have two choices, pay the premium or go to the government option.

Call your Congressmen or Congresswomen and tell them this is wrong.

Eric Wilson is an insurance agent in the Chicago area.