by
Craig Stiff, Marketing Director for Lifespring Health
If you are one of the millions of self employed Americans with no health insurance, take advantage of the new affordable health insurance options now available. With a health savings account and a high deductible individual or family policy you can afford to protect your family's health. And it has tax benefits too.
A Health Savings Account is a new Affordable health insurance option. Health Savings Accounts will change the way millions can save to meet their health care needs. HSAs will help consumers have more choice in meeting their health care needs The account is set up as a savings account, but it allows you to use the funds to pay for your health care expenses. With an HSA you can pay for current health expenses and save for future qualified medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis.
You have to be covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) to take advantage of HSAs. An HDHP generally costs less than traditional health care coverage, so the money you save on insurance can be put into the Health Savings Account. The national average premium for an individual policy is only $92 per month and $272 per month for a family policy.
Using an HSA can lower your tax bill too. If you make the maximum tax-deductible annual contribution this year, these new health insurance premiums are tax deductible so your after-tax cost will be even less!
These new plans reward you for staying healthy. Because they are based on your actual use of health care services, your premium is lower. In a traditional health care plan the premium is based on an average, so you get to pay based on the health risks of a big group. You own and control the money in your HSA. You make the decision on how to spend the money - as long as you stick to qualified medical expenses. To view a detailed list of acceptable expenses, view the IRS Publication 502. Also, you make the decision about what types of investments to make for the money in the account to grow.
If you invest in a Health Savings Accounts now, by the time April rolls around next year, you'll not only have a good health care option in place, you'll have a tax benefit as well.
Author, Craig Stiff, Marketing Director for Lifespring Health, writes on the benefits of Health Savings Accounts as an alternative to expensive Health Insurance Policies. More information can be found at www.LifespringHealth.com.
