Health Savings Account

   My wife's employer recently switched to a high deductible health insurance
plan.  I seem to recall that this was one of the requirements to setting up
a health savings account.

  Her employer also offers something called a "cafeteria plan", which is
really a health spending account.  It lets you guess your health spending
for the year, put that amount in, and then that amount of your income is tax
free for the year.  The downside is that anything we wouldn't use goes back
to her employer at the end of the year, and it doesn't encourage you to save
long term.

  I'd much rather have something that builds up and grows over time - maybe
even something that lets you invest part of it (as it gets bigger) into
ETF's, so that the index fund can grow and beat inflation over time.

  Can anyone give me some hints on places that might offer something like
this?

 
And how would that help if your wife's employer doesn't offer such a
plan? You have checked and they don't.
"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."

 OhioGuy wrote:

Well, now you're talking about long-term savings vs. short-term savings.
The medical savings account plans are targeted at only short-term goals,
specifically meeting (part of) this year's medical expenses.  The general
view is that you want a low-risk, high-liquidity investment when saving
for a short-term goal, so if that's true, I don't think it would make
sense to expect a high rate of return.

   - Logan

 

My employer provided medical plan has no deductible at all for major
medical problems and we still have the option of a health savings
account.


Yup. I do that. It works pretty well. At the end of the year, I look at
my unused balance and I start buying up eligible products so I am left
with a zero balance at the end of the year. Works fine.


I have no idea. Try googling.

 
I'm with you on that, Shawn.  Last year I put $1000 in the HSA and it
was gone by September.