HSA's Will Survive in IFP Market

[Yagents]

Oh.. forgive me for being cynical about our Government. I didn't think Uncle Sam would send someone money (subsidy) for Health Insurance AND ALSO allow that someone to lower their taxable income using the government-subsidized policy as the empowerer of a HSA.

When I say "Almost" Major Medical, I'm referring to the same Fee-For-Service policies that we sell today. Why must they have maternity and all the other Essential Health Benefits, YAgents? If a policy doesn't comply with the ACA, it's not forbidden.. it just can't be legally called a Major Medical Health Insurance Plan...right? Those plans will cost much less than policies sold on the Exchange, and be just as good as what we're selling today.

That's what many of the companies that will not participate in the Exchanges are planning on doing. Are they not going to be allowed to do this? The selling of less-expensive Almost Major Medical is the strategy that many of the local agency owners are planning to pursue. Will it get shot down by HHS, YAgents???

I didn't mean to cause friction with you, so forgive me if it was taken that way.

I just don't know the answer to your question regarding other types of policies being sold on the market. But I do know that if it not deemed "qualified", they'll have to pay the penalty which climbs to 2% of AGI in 2015. Plus, the EHB's are not a bad thing (except maternity for males and anyone over age 45). Stripping out maternity for example would only lower a premium by an amount that will be offset by having to pay the penalty. If any stripped down plan will be allowed, I don't know why HHS had to give "waivers" to hundreds of plans and thousands of people initially when this fiasco started. So, I don't think you can get around not having unlimited lifetime maximums, etc. I think part of the intent of the law was to get rid of the junk/stripped down/discount/indemnity policies. Otherwise, a national high risk pool would have been a much easier and cheaper solution. So, I don't know the answer to your question. I was intrigued by the "almost" major medical comment, and was really responding to the HSA question initially.

 

[AllenChicago]

You didn't cause any "friction", YAgents. I was only asking for your insight, which you have provided. My concern is that the plans which are "almost" major medical (today's major medical plans) after 2013 will not be allowed to be sold outside of the exchanges. Since noone has an answer to that yet, we'll just have to wait and see what HHS determines. Hopefully it's sooner rather than later because there's a lot of gearing-up in preparation for offering these type of plans. -AC

 

[Ann H]

Thanks for the reply and the useful info, YAgents. It's uncharacteristic of the Feds to allow double-dipping (Subsidy + HSA deduction), but it's a WINNING combination. Hopefully HHS won't outlaw Almost-Major-Medical HSA policies from being sold on the open market. Those are what I want to focus on selling.
-Allen

Actually, I agree with Allen about the double dipping. I think that the IRS and HHS will outlaw the COST-SHARING subsidies if you chose an HSA. PPACA gave three kinds of health insurance subsidies - group premium tax credits, individual/family premium subsidies, and individual/family cost-sharing subsidies. The cost-sharing subsidies would most likely disqualify an HSA from being an HSA I would think, since it would be another health plan. We'll see. It really doesn't make that much difference, because the lowest-income members are the ones who get cost-sharing subsidies and they usually don't buy HSA's.
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You didn't cause any "friction", YAgents. I was only asking for your insight, which you have provided. My concern is that the plans which are "almost" major medical (today's major medical plans) after 2013 will not be allowed to be sold outside of the exchanges. Since noone has an answer to that yet, we'll just have to wait and see what HHS determines. Hopefully it's sooner rather than later because there's a lot of gearing-up in preparation for offering these type of plans. -AC

My guess is that a private market will emerge for those wanting to pay the tax/penalty. Will HHS revolt? Probably. But if there is enough political backlash over outlandish premiums then they may not revolt. The "outside the exchange" market is bound to be a roller coaster until the market decides what the market thinks is marketable.