"I would say it's just my company trying to screw me over and use Obama care as an excuse, but it's happening to my friends at their companies as well."
Elections have consequences. "The HSA is nice, provides the same pre-tax money, but then i'm not subject to the 1 year limit of the FSA.....that money remains mine." Was nice. Whether it remains nice is to be seen. Obamacare has some negative effects on HSA's. There is a significant amount of politically charged hype being published on the impact Obamacare will have on health savings accounts and high deductible health insurance policies. Contrary to what you may read, Obamacare does not terminate either of these. There simply is no language in the legislation that states as much. Having said that, Obamacare may well produce such a result indirectly when it is applied to the HSA/HDHI program in the real world. It all comes down to something known as the "medical loss ratio." Medical Loss Ratio The medical loss ratio has been touted as one of the more positive aspects of Obamacare. It is a somewhat complex calculation regarding how insurance premiums paid by insureds can be used by an insurance company. The key thing to know is Obamacare requires that 80 percent of the premium payment must go to the payment of medical costs with the remaining 20 percent going to administrative costs. If this does not happen, the difference must be rebated to the patient. All and all, this rule seems fairly logical on the surface, but it causes haywire with the HSA/HDHI program. The problem is Obamacare doesn't take into account the payments made by the insured through their health savings account. As a result, the numbers as applied to the high deductible health insurance policy are thrown completely out of whack. An example can help show why this is the case. Let's assume I start an HSA and buy a high deductible insurance policy that runs me $300 a month. Over the year, I will pay $3,600 in total premiums. Now let's assume I have a deductible of $1,200 before the insurance kicks in and I incur only $360 in medical expenses during the year. This represents only 10 percent of the total premium I paid in, not 80 percent. Under the law, this means the insurance company is in violation of the law. It isn't that the insurance is excessively expensive. The problem is that trying to apply Obamacare to this approach is similar to trying to put a square peg in a round hole. It just doesn't work. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6940415 J - Ive pledged that I will not sign health insurance reform as badly as I think its necessary, I wont sign it if that reform adds even one dime to our deficit. - Barrack Obama Both of us want to provide health care to all Americans. Theres a slight difference, and her plan is a good one. But, she mandates that everybody buy health care. Shed have the government force every individual to buy insurance and I dont have such a mandate because I dont think the problem is that people dont want health insurance, its that they cant afford it. So, I focus more on lowering costs. This is a modest difference. But, its one that shes tried to elevate, arguing that because I dont force people to buy health care that Im not insuring everybody. Well, if things were that easy, I could mandate everybody to buy a house, and that would solve the problem of homelessness. It doesnt. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:358235 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
