Health insurance -Paying out of pocket any recommendations?

And you got piece of mind for all that money for the time you've had it - the insurance company took all the risk of bankruptcy and total disruption of your finances out of the equation for you. Again, you're *supposed* to lose money on the deal if you're healthy.

But regardless, the insurance that the OP is talking about is not employer-related, so it doesn't disappear unless he chooses to cancel it.

 

BCBS should have a Health Savings Account eligible plan. I'm in NC not in TX so I'm not sure of the particulars.

Basically it's a high-deductible, major med plan that used to cut the premium in half and made you eligible to voluntarily put most of the premium savings in a tax-free savings account.

I was selling them in 2004 and a family of four could typically cut their monthly premium from $600 to $300 (of course, their deductible would go up from $1000 Individual (x3) to $5000 Family but they also could be stashing $300/month into a tax-free savings account to be used for eligible medical expenses.

Example: four months go by and you don't use your health insurance, so pretty soon you might have $1200 "saved up." Then you spend $100 on an office visit and a RX and another three months go by. Your HSA is up to $2000 (2100-100). Remember, this had been 2 grand that heretofore had gone to the insurance company in the form of a long-gone premium payment.

This is not flex-pay where you have to spend it by calendar year-end or lose it. It accumulates and grows tax-free and you can use it whenever you need to for an eligible medical expense.

My experience is a few years' out of date, but a current agent can and will correct any outdated info I've listed here.

 

Texas HSA options haven't shown nearly that kind of rate reduction. They haven't sold well in the Houston marketplace mainly because of bad pricing. Many suspect that the insurance companies have intentionally priced them poorly to reduce sales of the plans.

 

I had the impression that the premium savings slowed down around 2006 or '07. Doesn't surprise me. They'd rather have the money....