NYCPHP Meetup

[Timothy Boyden]

HSAs can be a good alternative to traditional health plans. However it's
not exactly free money either, there are contribution limits, penalties
for uses other than for medical expenses, etc...

The other thing is if your working for yourself and you become disabled,
you can't contribute to the HSA anymore so then how do the medical bills
get paid?

Another option is a participating in a group self-employed plan through
a business group or chamber of commerce.


--------------------------- 
Timothy Boyden 
Network Administrator 
tboyden at supercoups.com 
  
SuperCoups(r) | 350 Revolutionary Drive | E. Taunton, MA 02718 
508-977-2034  | www.supercoups.com 
---------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: talk-bounces at lists.nyphp.org [mailto:talk-bounces at lists.nyphp.org]
On Behalf Of Keith Casey
Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2007 1:56 PM
To: NYPHP Talk
Subject: Re: [nycphp-talk] Followup: Going weekly rate for
phpdeveloper/coderinNYC these days?

On 1/18/07, Timothy Boyden <tboyden at supercoups.com> wrote:
> Medical and life insurance - This is the expensive part, without a 
> bulk discount, insurance is like $2000 a month

Actually, this is where a bit of planning can save you a *huge* amount.
Instead of buying insurance - which you have to pay whether you use it
or not - check out Health Savings Accounts (HSA).  They are
*not* the same as FSA's.

You have to get basic catastrophic insurance which covers major things
like cancer, car accidents, etc with a high deductible.  I pay $40/month
and have a $5k deduction.  But then, you get to create a pre-tax savings
account which you can deposit funds into.... and the funds are 100%
yours from day one and grow like a normal savings account.  If you have
the ability to start putting funds into it during your 20's or 30's, you
could have a huge amount in no time...

But the best part is that you can get discounts... remember that many
doctor's offices and hospitals have people who their only job is to
fight with the insurance companies.  When you offer to pay in full right
then and there - via the debit card attached to the account - they often
give discounts.  For example, my wife is knocked out with the flu at the
moment and when I took her to the doctor a couple days ago, they knocked
30% off the bill while we were standing there.

Now let's do the math...
$2000/month for insurance you might not use that month OR $40/month for
insurance you might not use + $1960 into a savings account

For details check out:  http://hsainsider.com/

--
D. Keith Casey Jr.
CEO, CaseySoftware, LLC
http://CaseySoftware.com
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