The Best Health Insurance Solution If You're Self-Employed
If you are one of the millions of self employed Americans with
no health insurance, take advantage of the new affordable health
insurance options now available. With a health savings account
and a high deductible individual or family policy you can afford
to protect your family's health. And it has tax benefits too.
A Health Savings Account is a new Affordable health insurance
option. Health Savings Accounts will change the way millions can
save to meet their health care needs. HSAs will help consumers
have more choice in meeting their health care needs The account
is set up as a savings account, but it allows you to use the
funds to pay for your health care expenses. With an HSA you can
pay for current health expenses and save for future qualified
medical and retiree health expenses on a tax-free basis.
You have to be covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP)
to take advantage of HSAs. An HDHP generally costs less than
traditional health care coverage, so the money you save on
insurance can be put into the Health Savings Account. The
national average premium for an individual policy is only $92
per month and $272 per month for a family policy.
Using an HSA can lower your tax bill too. If you make the
maximum tax-deductible annual contribution this year, these new
health insurance premiums are tax deductible so your after-tax
cost will be even less!
These new plans reward you for staying healthy. Because they are
based on your actual use of health care services, your premium
is lower. In a traditional health care plan the premium is based
on an average, so you get to pay based on the health risks of a
big group. You own and control the money in your HSA. You make
the decision on how to spend the money - as long as you stick to
qualified medical expenses. To view a detailed list of
acceptable expenses, view the IRS Publication 502. Also, you
make the decision about what types of investments to make for
the money in the account to grow.
If you invest in a Health Savings Accounts now,
by the time April rolls around next year, you'll not only have a
good health care option in place, you'll have a tax benefit as
well.