Medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy, according to a study by Harvard University, which also confirmed that over 70% of those who declared insolvency because of rising medical bills had health insurance at the start of their disease.
In recent times, the word “insurance” may be a misnomer. Medicare does not guarantee that most of your medical expenses will be paid. The protection net that medical insurance provided in the past has become riddle with holes so big that many people are leaving them almost as susceptible as those without insurance, These people are considered underinsured.
Two reasons for the current upsurge of people who fret about the costs of health care & struggling to pay their premiums, even if they’re employed & have health profit through work or are eligible for Medicare are below.
First, cost of healthcare is rising at twice the rate of inflation & most Americans cannot keep up. A bigger piece of an individual’s income is now devoted to the payment of insurance & treatments. Treatment medicine can be costly too.
Secondly, employers spend more of the financial responsibility for health care on their employees. In an effort to save money, employers are moving from full coverage to high-deductible coverage. Premiums for health insurance through company increased nearly 9% in 2007.
With the cost of maintaining health skyrocketing, customers are desperately looking for ways to keep out-of-pocket costs as low as possible. One way to ease your qualms is to fund your own healthcare by putting funds in reserve. There’re two ways to do so, health savings accounts (HSA) & Flexible spending accounts.
HSA works much like a long-term flexible expense account, allowing you to save for medical expenses on a non-taxable, but you also must have an HSA qualified high deductible health plan. Anyone under 65 who buys this type of policy can open a HSA. Contributions to health savings accounts are limited & adjusted yearly. Unlike a flexible spending account, money in an HSA is yours & can be reversed & used for years to come, & even grow through investment earnings.
Flexible spending accounts allow you to set aside money from your income before taxes are taken out & used the account to pay medical expenses during the year. Because you lose all the money is left in the account at the end of the year, flexible spending accounts work best for recognized recurring expenses, for example regular prescription costs.