High Deductible plans F and G

[craig_ritter]

Craig,
Do you know if there has been any legislative progress or increased support for legislation to allow Medicare Advantage MSA plan holders to make their own contributions to the MSA in addition to the government contribution?
Thanks.
LD

LD,

See section 202 B: Text - S.12 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Health Savings Act of 2019

Not holding my breath as I don't think Congress will accomplish much over the next year and a half.

 

[somarco]

counting you, 2 other people have LD on ignore.

I suspect there are a LOT more than 3 folks that have him on ignore

 

[LostDollar]

Yep, already decided to pick up Lasso. I like that if you don't have to use it much, instead of paying premiums and not using it, you get to keep what you don't use. I also like that you can use it for dental, vision, hearing aids, etc.

You have to carry a stand alone PDP, and you can use the money in your account to pay your deductable and copys on your drugs(hey, I could use it to buy my weed if I had a medical card). I've just started looking at it, but I'm really liking what I see.

Thanks for the link LD(Handlin was supposed to take part in that webinar, but didn't make it).

Here is the relevant portion of scott's comment:

One thing I struggle with re: the MSA is this - let's use an example: $6,000 max OOP on MAPD vs. MSA (let's use the middle one, $6,700 deductible).

Because the bene is paying 100%, using his $2,520 deposit, it seems to reason that many won't use it up.

But once they do - that spread from $2,520 to $7,700 can go fast because it's not like they are paying copays or coinsurance, they are just paying the full bill. On everything - even preventative - what would normally be $0 with Medicare A & B.

Whereas, on the MAPD, they just pay their copay/coinsurance (much less than full cost), get the $0 copay preventative (100% less than full cost), and it seems like it would not accelerate as quickly.

In other words, I think it would be harder to hit the Max OOP in a traditional MAPD, than it would be to hit the deductible in the MSA plan.

Obviously, it's great with access, and it'll be awesome for those who have less than $2,520 in bills.

Not saying I won't present it or sell it, but this is where I see it's major downside compared to traditional MAPD. It's greatest asset is access.

Basically, paying 100% of even the adjusted down to "allowed" original medicare amounts will use up the MSA advance more rapidly than what folks are used to thinking about in other Medicare coverage.

So if one doesn't have a plan for paying the oop in the gap between the MSA advance and the MSA oop, the msa plan poses quite a bit more financial risk than the HD (f or g) plans. That's one of the two main reasons I finally abandoned the idea of taking out an MSA. I am considerably older than the T65 bracket and have to assume maintenance medical repairs are becoming an increasingly likely possibility for me.