Could this work in Michigan

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...470293066.html
In Indiana's HSA, the state deposits $2,750 per year into an account controlled by the employee, out of which he pays all his health bills. Indiana covers the premium for the plan. The intent is that participants will become more cost-conscious and careful about overpayment or overutilization.
Unused funds in the account—to date some $30 million or about $2,000 per employee and growing fast—are the worker's permanent property. For the very small number of employees [[about 6% last year) who use their entire account balance, the state shares further health costs up to an out-of-pocket maximum of $8,000, after which the employee is completely protected...

Obamacare limits the types of health products you can buy with HSA funds [[as well as reducing amounts you can put into a flexible spending acct). Because the language in the law is so nebulous, we'll have to wait for the feds to promulgate rules before we know the actual impact.

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Originally Posted by jiminnm

Obamacare limits the types of health products you can buy with HSA funds [[as well as reducing amounts you can put into a flexible spending acct).

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It does? which part of it does that? I read most of it, so nothing like that. those medical spending accounts are a rip off. you pt YOUR money in and if, at the end of the year, you haven't used it all, it just goes *poof* into the bank's balance sheet

the indiana idea sounds pretty good and pretty progressive for Indiana

I think the FSA or Flexible Spending Account is the one where if you don't spend it you lose it. These accounts are a supplement to insurance [[An interesting thing to know is that you have access to the full amount for the year on day one, and, if you spend it all say on January 3, and then quit your job on January 15, the fund has to reimburse you for the full amount you were going to have taken out for the year if you used it for valid medical expenses, even though you may have made only one payment).

In the HSA, on the other hand, you have to have a qualifying high-deductible insurance policy. For those people who go over the $2750, some of them could be paying a lot more [[up to that $8000) than they would have otherwise.

It really a lot like AT&T Rollover cell phone minutes. If you have a few years at the beginning [[especially if you are young and healthy) you can bank up many thousands of dollars that are yours to use in high expense years [[or keep if you dont need it).

If you are sick already and switch to this plan [[often involuntarily), you could now be paying $8000 per year for insurance when you paid a couple of thousand previously.


So, if you have an older, declining state workforce where the poor economy has led to no new hiring, this system would save the state money, but cost a lot more for many existing employees.

The CEO of Whole Earth Foods did get into hot water for taking a similar stand. This is his logic. The Daily Kos directed some hostitlty toward him because it was felt that his logic and experience with something that worked offered an alternative to Obamacare. He overstepped because he suggested that the country simply copy his company's health care plan. Oops, way to simple and inexpensive.

“The combination of high-deductible health insurance and HSAs is one solution that could solve many of our health-care problems,” he writes “For example, Whole Foods Market pays 100% of the premiums for all our team members who work 30 hours or more per week [[about 89% of all team members) for our high-deductible health-insurance plan. We also provide up to $1,800 per year in additional health-care dollars through deposits into employees' Personal Wellness Accounts to spend as they choose on their own health and wellness.”
-The Whole Foods Health Care Boycott

I had trouble with the HSA I was in. Since I didn't get to keep the money that was in the HSA at the end of the year, there was a motivation to use additional medical services in December; eg. maybe i should have my eyes examined again this year. The only time I liked it was when I knew I was going to be having some minor surgury well ahead of time. That allowed me to fork some money into my HSA to lower my taxes a bit.

I wonder if the most efficient State run health care program, dollar for dollar, would be an HSA something modeled along the Indiana plan for every State resident and offered with a family package. It wouldn't be the solution to wards of the State but it would be a practical aid to the 80% in the middle. The key to a successful HSA might be to allow those covered by an HSA to keep the money they don't use. That's a great way to encourage the use of generic medicine as was pointed out.