What's bugging you? 2021

[adambr2]

My health insurance deductibles are 400 individual/800 family with a 2/4 grand out of pocket max. For a family of 5, I feel very fortunate.

 

It's a big point of contention with the company every time our collective bargaining agreement comes up for renewal as they want to push us toward a high deductible plan, and we were fortunately able to just renew it for 4 more years with no increases.

[nodakfan17]

My wife’s insurance has a $4,000 deductible with a $6,000 max. The plan my company offers has a $5,500 deductible with a $11,000 max. We are on her plan, as it seems to have held steady over the years, whereas my deductible and max have slowly trickled up. Both premiums are comparatively reasonable.

 

We’ve been blessed with relatively good health. She’s been funding her health savings account and I’ve been adding $250 per month to a different savings account marked for health care. I tell the young folks on my team to build health care expenses into their budget. I go into every year mentally planning on maxing out so we’re not caught off guard financially.

[logan82]

We have a choice between several plans and the best way to go seems to be go with the high deductible and put the difference into an HSA. Company puts $1500 into it for you add in the difference between the two plans and it is less out of pocket if you actually need to use insurance plus you get to keep the HSA if you don't use it.

[FVBrewerFan]

My health care premiums are very reasonable. It’s the high deductible and out-of-pocket max that make health care expenses unpredictable.

 

I know all about that. My wife's a teacher and we have her plan. Decent premium, but a 3,000 deductable.

 

I blew mine away lately. I had an "accident" almost 6 weeks ago and flash-burned both arms and forearms. 2nd degree burns all over. Put my big payment on an easy payment plan out of my HSA and now I'm free to go to the hospital as much as I want.

 

The urologist wanted to to an internal scan on my bladder, so I don't have to put that off now.

 

So you do have an HSA and your wife's employer contributes? That seems to be the piece some people miss when lamenting a high deductible. In almost all occasiins HSA/ HDP is best. If you need it, HSA covers expenses under the deductible, if not HSA can be used as a medical 401k.

[nodakfan17]

I like having the HSA. It’s a neat tool. 2 gripes:

 

1) The contribution limit for a family is less than our out-of-pocket max. I wish we could contribute up to the amount of the max. Even though we’ve enjoyed pretty decent health, we’ve come close to maxing out in consecutive years for very normal things like our son’s birth, our son’s ear tube surgery, and a year where I needed two MRIs.

 

2) Since we’re on my wife’s plan, only she is eligible for a HSA. Could I tap that balance for a big expense because we’re married and a team? Sure, but it’s just easier for me to pay my small expenses out-of-pocket and let her HSA grow. Why not make every adult eligible for a HSA?

[Zad Fnark]

So you do have an HSA and your wife's employer contributes? That seems to be the piece some people miss when lamenting a high deductible. In almost all occasiins HSA/ HDP is best. If you need it, HSA covers expenses under the deductible, if not HSA can be used as a medical 401k.

 

Yeah, what cushions my situation is that the school district puts in about 2,000 a year into our account. She's putting about 230 a month in herself, which is what she was doing before this year when we had a flex account instead. For my 1,800 bill for the emergency room visit I was able to set up monthly payments, so I don't kill my account which was nice.

 

I found out the hard way, Thedacare doesn't do burns. They stuck me in an ambulance (2,300 bucks, thank you very much) and drove me down to the Ascension burn center down in Milwaukee. (nice view of the lake from my hospital room...) Their bill was the big one along with the big charge for the ambulance. I had mostly hit my deductable by the time those charges came up.

 

The flex account we used to have was nice in that all the year's money was available right at the start of the year. The downside is the "use it or lose it" feature at the end of the year, where we couldn't save up money.

[CheezWizHed]

2) Since we’re on my wife’s plan, only she is eligible for a HSA. Could I tap that balance for a big expense because we’re married and a team? Sure, but it’s just easier for me to pay my small expenses out-of-pocket and let her HSA grow. Why not make every adult eligible for a HSA?

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I do believe you and your wife can both contribute to an HSA separately and use either one for medical expenses. Every adult in a high deductible heath care plan is eligible to have an HSA. It was a "consolation" when HMOs and HDPs fell out of favor.

 

Frankly, I like the HDHP and HSA pairing for my family situation. We have funded our HSA for enough years that we could cover our yearly deductible ($6k) and max out of pocket ($10k) if it came to that, while keeping my yearly premiums lower.

 

I've just recently seen people that are funding their HSA as part of their 401k retirement planning. Not sure what I think about that, but it is interesting. My HSA investment options stink, but otherwise it seems smart.

[nodakfan17]

I’m almost positive I’m not eligible for my own HSA because I’m covered by my wife’s high deductible plan. Even if I could have my own HSA, we’d still be subject to the same annual maximum contribution of $7,100 (at least that’s what it was in 2020).

 

I think some people strategically use HSAs after they’ve maxed out IRA / 401(k) contributions. HSAs can be invested in mutual funds once they’ve hit a critical mass (~$10,000, depending on the plan administrator).

 

I like carrying a high HSA balance. It may not be the most strategic move, but it provides a mental accounting benefit. I like knowing we can access those funds before age 59.5 if we have a couple unlucky years in a row.

[CheezWizHed]

I believe every individual is eligible to own their own HSA, but you might be right about the max out of pocket. My wife and I only have one and we max it out.

 

The advice I received recently was to get your company 401k match accomplished, then max the HSA account before putting more into the 401k. The reason was that the HSA had more ways to remove money without penalties than the 401k.

 

We can invest once you have $1k in the HSA, but my options are not that appetizing compared to my 401k plan. We are changing HSA providers in 2022, so maybe that will improve. But I've maxed it out each year anyway. Six kids that need braces and have some specialized health needs... it is necessary.

[TURBO]

My city had trick or treating from 4-8 on Halloween.

 

4 hours is too damn long to be answering the door.

 

3 hours should be plenty.

 

We could leave candy out and not answer the door, but then it all goes to one kid, little thieving brats, get off my lawn!

 

I had 3 neighbors who tried that last year and their candy bowls and all the candy was stolen within minutes... Even took the bowls.

[MrTPlush]

No one said you had to keep your light on for the entire time.

[TURBO]

No one said you had to keep your light on for the entire time.

 

right...

[Thurston Fluff]

As a shop that has a lot of kids coming in we require masks. We also provide free ones for those who don't have one. We also have an aids resource center next to us. They hand out free condoms and needles. They also require masks. Oddly enough the place that hands out free needles and condums don't provide free masks. Apparantly they tell people who don't have masks that the place next door have some for free. The truly annoying part is we don't get the masks for free nor did we ever tell them we'd provide masks for them but also want to do the right thing and keep every one as protected as possible.

[BrewersSuperCollector]

As a shop that has a lot of kids coming in we require masks. We also provide free ones for those who don't have one. We also have an aids resource center next to us. They hand out free condoms and needles. They also require masks. Oddly enough the place that hands out free needles and condums don't provide free masks. Apparantly they tell people who don't have masks that the place next door have some for free. The truly annoying part is we don't get the masks for free nor did we ever tell them we'd provide masks for them but also want to do the right thing and keep every one as protected as possible.

 

 

You should start selling masks.

[Thurston Fluff]

If you have a child at home sick with covid and someone knocks on your door to deliver some balloons do you

1- put on a mask before going to the door then tell the person to leave them on the porch until the delivery person is at least six feet away or...

2- come to the door maskless then call for your covid infected child to come get the balloons.

[nodakfan17]

If you have a child at home sick with covid and someone knocks on your door to deliver some balloons do you

1- put on a mask before going to the door then tell the person to leave them on the porch until the delivery person is at least six feet away or...

2- come to the door maskless then call for your covid infected child to come get the balloons.

You poor soul.

[Thurston Fluff]

If you have a child at home sick with covid and someone knocks on your door to deliver some balloons do you

1- put on a mask before going to the door then tell the person to leave them on the porch until the delivery person is at least six feet away or...

2- come to the door maskless then call for your covid infected child to come get the balloons.

You poor soul.

 

I wasn't concerned for myself. I'm vaccinated and boostered and wore a n-95 mask with gloves because I knew it was a covid house. I just thought it was rather thoughtless of someone to do that while not knowing the status of the person at the door.

[TURBO]

If you have a child at home sick with covid and someone knocks on your door to deliver some balloons do you

1- put on a mask before going to the door then tell the person to leave them on the porch until the delivery person is at least six feet away or...

2- come to the door maskless then call for your covid infected child to come get the balloons.

You poor soul.

 

I wasn't concerned for myself. I'm vaccinated and boostered and wore a n-95 mask with gloves because I knew it was a covid house. I just thought it was rather thoughtless of someone to do that while not knowing the status of the person at the door.

 

 

It was thoughtless, completely.

 

It's gotten to the point that I expect nothing more though now-a-days.

 

People are generally selfish and inconsiderate in all walks of life, in all situations.

[nate82]

 

I wasn't concerned for myself. I'm vaccinated and boostered and wore a n-95 mask with gloves because I knew it was a covid house. I just thought it was rather thoughtless of someone to do that while not knowing the status of the person at the door.

 

Pretty sure that person would have let their kid get the balloons regardless of the infection they had (flu, cold, etc.).

[nodakfan17]

It was thoughtless, completely.

 

It's gotten to the point that I expect nothing more though now-a-days.

 

People are generally selfish and inconsiderate in all walks of life, in all situations.

I’m actually more bullish on humanity. Most people I meet are pretty decent. The outliers grab a disproportionate amount of attention. That’s quite the lack of self awareness from the balloon family, though.

[Thurston Fluff]

It was thoughtless, completely.

 

It's gotten to the point that I expect nothing more though now-a-days.

 

People are generally selfish and inconsiderate in all walks of life, in all situations.

I’m actually more bullish on humanity. Most people I meet are pretty decent. The outliers grab a disproportionate amount of attention. That’s quite the lack of self awareness from the balloon family, though.

 

I feel the same way. Probably because someone comes here to whine about it the few times it happens.

[DHonks]

If you have a child at home sick with covid and someone knocks on your door to deliver some balloons do you

1- put on a mask before going to the door then tell the person to leave them on the porch until the delivery person is at least six feet away or...

2- come to the door maskless then call for your covid infected child to come get the balloons.

 

 

Do people deliver balloons? If I saw someone coming to the door with balloons, I'd probably be think it's really weird and would stay in another room, not acknowledging the doorbell.

[DHonks]

I believe every individual is eligible to own their own HSA, but you might be right about the max out of pocket. My wife and I only have one and we max it out.

 

The advice I received recently was to get your company 401k match accomplished, then max the HSA account before putting more into the 401k. The reason was that the HSA had more ways to remove money without penalties than the 401k.

 

We can invest once you have $1k in the HSA, but my options are not that appetizing compared to my 401k plan. We are changing HSA providers in 2022, so maybe that will improve. But I've maxed it out each year anyway. Six kids that need braces and have some specialized health needs... it is necessary.

 

I've saved for about a decade, always maxing out my HSA. I've got about $15k in HSA investments, $1800 available. It was super helpful when my wife had hip surgery last year, although my frustration was that the doctor and hospital wanted us to prepay for the surgery, then submit to insurance for reimbursement. If we used HSA funds but then received a check back, that seems like it would violate IRS rules. So we wound up having to put some of the procedure on a credit card.

 

I wish my district contributed more to our plan than $1k annually, but on the whole I like the concept. I just feel like we have a crappy plan when I hear friends elsewhere with plans with low co-pays, no co-pays, or 100% of costs covered by their employer. Each year we have to pay more for our insurance, more towards our pension (now 12.41%), don't get a COLA, and rarely get a pay raise. It'll be scary to see how much less take-home pay we have in the 2022-23 school year.

[homer]

it bugs me that people don't know what Thurston Fluff does for a living

[Thurston Fluff]

it bugs me that people don't know what Thurston Fluff does for a living

 

I don't any more either. I used to just do the comedy stuff now I'm a certified balloon artist as well (Yes that's areal thing.) Not really sure how that happened.