Need Advice: Best Health Insurance Options Once Our Baby is Born

[jackiechiles2]

My company pays 100% of my insurance, but nothing for my wife and two kids.  We currently have a plan through healthcare.gov that runs about $637 a month.  It's got a $1250 deductible and a $3000 max out of pocket, I think.    I wanted one with a lower deductible in case my wife got pregnant, which she did, so we're looking at spending around $3k total for the c-section and all (last two were c-sections). 

Thing is, after the baby is born, this plan will jump up to $796 a month.  I'm just not convinced we'll need such a low deductible without the likelihood of pregnancy in the future (this is our last).  Just looking at plans that we're going to have to switch to, we could get a HSA eligible plan for $513 with a $12,600 max out of pocket/deductible. 

As I've stated elsewhere, we're really at the beginning of transitioning into a MMM lifestyle, so we don't have a lot of cash lying around.  We're saving as much as possible right now, but that's going to be burned during my wife's 6 weeks or so off of work. 

I like the idea of the HSA in that we could control some of our own medical expenses and if we didn't use it, it would still be there to use in the future.  My fear is, however, that we'll be depositing around $124 a month (difference between current plan and new plan) into the HSA, then get hit with something major before I can rebuild our savings to cover it. 

Which course makes the most financial sense?

[Gin1984]

Find a way to max out the HSA faster. Don't just put in $124/month.  Put in the whole $6550/year.  If it means you have to cut something else, do it.  And, you need to save up the $12K ASAP.  Unless you can afford to pay the whole $12K, I would not do it.

[Daleth]

Find a way to max out the HSA faster. Don't just put in $124/month.  Put in the whole $6550/year.  If it means you have to cut something else, do it.  And, you need to save up the $12K ASAP.  Unless you can afford to pay the whole $12K, I would not do it.

I'm not sure you need to do this. As I recall when I had an HSA at my work, the entire annual limit was mine to spend from January 1 on.

[jackiechiles2]

Find a way to max out the HSA faster. Don't just put in $124/month.  Put in the whole $6550/year.  If it means you have to cut something else, do it.  And, you need to save up the $12K ASAP.  Unless you can afford to pay the whole $12K, I would not do it.

I'm not sure you need to do this. As I recall when I had an HSA at my work, the entire annual limit was mine to spend from January 1 on.

I mean the more I'm thinking about it, the less worried I am about getting stuck with the deductible without having the full cash value on hand.  When we had our first child, I had just graduated law school and didn't have any cash, but we had a $4500 deductible and like a $7k out of pocket.  After the birth, we owed like $5k. 

We ended up paying the hospital like $150 a month for a while and after 6 months or so, offered them $2000 for the balance, which the hospital took.  I realize "I'll just make payments" isn't a great strategy, but it's a roll of the dice on a 0% interest loan from the hospital or risking wasting $276 a month in insurance premiums and forfeiting any tax benefit gained from a HSA.

[mxt0133]

I'm not sure you need to do this. As I recall when I had an HSA at my work, the entire annual limit was mine to spend from January 1 on.

I think you are confusing that with an FSA.  With an HSA you need to have the funds in there to be able to spend it.

To the OP:  So doing the math yearly difference between your current plan with your child and the HSA is $3,396.  With a $1250 deductible that means that you would need to incur $4,646 worth of medical expenses to make the HSA an inferior choice.

From my experience having a new born in the first year, there is a very high probability that you will be in the ER once or twice.  If the baby, under 6 months, has a fever of 104 or higher your doctor will tell you to go to the ER, and that's like $3k a pop with all the tests they have to run.

I personally have an HSA because my employer gives me $1500 a year and I can cash flow the out of pocket max.  Are you able to handle the 12k out of pocket max?  Keep in mind that you can always set up a payment plan with most providers that let you pay with no interest up to a year.

[RangerOne]

Are family plans with a 12k max out of pocket really $500 dollars a month?

That is a heft price to pay considering you also need to sock away the max $541 to an HSA each month...