|
|
|
Trends In Health Care - Health Savings Accounts for Police? Retiree
health care is not a pension benefit - it is a contractual benefit. With
that in mind, police officers across the state should learn about Health
Savings Accounts (HSAs) as that is how corporate America is struggling
to control their costs when it comes to health care benefits. What happens
there may well bleed over into the public sector. With traditional insurance plans, employers are basically giving employees credit cards and paying the bill for them at the end of the month. With HSA linked plans, workers are responsible for the first several thousand dollars of expenses, which makes monthly premiums much lower than with traditional plans, in which insurance companies pay a share of every doctor's office visit or trip to the emergency room. The result is that employees will foot more of their own health care tab and are responsible for saving to be able to do that. This is not cost containment, this is a cost shift. In most cases, the employee is responsible for building up savings in the tax-free HSA. Employees than can use the HSA to pay for medical expenses they incur while they're paying their out-of-pocket expenses before insurance coverage kicks in. The idea is to keep health insurance premium prices down by encouraging consumers to take more responsibility for their own health spending. MAP is staying abreast of this situation, as it will no doubt be raised as an issue by municipalities across the state. For more detailed information, contact Fred Timpner at the MAP office.
Source: Detroit Free Press May 30, 2006
|
|
|
Get
ready for the world of consumer directed health care, where you may well
pay up to $5,450 in out of pocket expenses before the insurance company
pays anything. General Motors, Chrysler, Ford Motor Company and most of
the large auto suppliers are among those companies that now offer high
deductible, high co-pay plans paired with health savings accounts as an
option to their workers.