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No HSA plans offered for Bronze level ACA plans ??????

 
 
ddbell
 
Reply Tue 10 Nov, 2015 06:46 pm
For 2015, I have a bronze plan and and HSA through healthcare.gov. For the 2016 options, none of the bronze plans offered to me are labeled as "HSA" plans. There is one silver and one gold option for HSA. HSA has ALWAYS been for high deductable plans. Yet now, it is not offered on the Bronze plans, at least not to me. This seems backwards. What gives????

I've talked to heathcare.gov twice, the insurance company twice and the IRS once. Healthcare.gov tells me to call the insurance company. The insurance company tells me to contact either healthcare.gov or the IRS to answer my questions. The IRS says they won't answer any questions about HSA and refers me to the IRS website or healthcare.gov. The IRS website does not provide the answers for my specific questions.

Some of the Bronze plans seem to meet the IRS requirements for HSA even though they are not labeled "HSA". Based on the IRS website, it appears that I just need a plan that meet the requirements in order to keep contributing to my current HSA account. The IRS website does not specify that the insurance company needs to label the plan as "HSA".

Ironically, the only thing that I can find on the IRS website is that some of the Bronze plans have a deductible which is TOO HIGH and is outside of the defined range for "high deducible HSA" plans. However, some of the Bronze plans do fall into the range and are still not listed as HSA options.

What I want to do is just sign up for a Bronze plan that falls within the IRS guidelines even though it is not called HSA and continue to contribute to my HSA as I normally do. However, since the IRS won't answer any HSA questions, I don't know for sure if this is OK.

This whole thing seems like an attempt by the insurance companies to force me into a silver or gold plan. However, it doesn't make sense for me to spend an extra $2,500 over the year just to lower my deductible by $3,000. So what, I save a whopping $500 IF (and only if) I exceed the deductible.

Hopefully someone out there knows something.................
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ddbell
 
  0  
Reply Wed 11 Nov, 2015 11:37 am
@ddbell,
OK, I figured it out on my own......

While the deductibles are within the IRS guidelines, the max out of pocket is now too high to qualify as a "high deducible health plan" by IRS rules. The max out of pocket is $6,550 for an individual or $13,100 for a family. The bronze plans were conveniently changed in 2016 to $6,600 / $13,200.

Obviously, they were not set to $50 over the max by chance. It is an obvious attempt by the insurance companies to force you into purchasing a more expensive plan if you want to keep an HSA. The HSA doesn't cost the insurance companies a penny. However, they've now found a way to make the consumer pay way more to get it!!!!!!

So to sum up 2016....... Higher premiums, higher deductibles, and no more HSA for Bronze plans because the insurance companies are getting greedy.

The ACA program is unsustainable.
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Linkat
 
  0  
Reply Wed 11 Nov, 2015 12:03 pm
@ddbell,
Welcome to anything run by the government. Why the government should not be involved.
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obamablue
 
  1  
Reply Wed 6 Jan, 2016 03:07 pm
@ddbell,
I have to tell this story somewhere--I have a Bronze plan with a $12000 deductible for my family of 4--all we can afford. Fortunately we are all very healthy and just have this to avoid paying the penalty, and as a catastrophic coverage. Now my daughter need a tonsillectomy-- the hospital quotes $4550 through my health plan, but $2700 if I was uninsured! But I can't get it done as uninsured, since I have coverage!! (That is not allowed by the insurance company--they would get in trouble.) So having coverage is going to cost us $1800 more for the procedure!! Gee--I'm so fortunate to have healthcare coverage!!! Thank you Obamacare!!!!!
The only ones benefiting from this fiasco are the insurance companies!
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