Hello All,
I am trying to figure out if it makes sense to switch my health insurance coverage to a plan with an HSA. The benefits don't seem as clear for me as for many others.
1) My income is from rental property, so I don't benefit from an employer contribution to premiums or the HSA itself.
2) I don't pay much federal or state tax, because my income is pretty much all passive, and I have two child tax credits. Last year, on $44,000 of income, I paid about $2,500 in income taxes.
3) Currently I have a "silver" plan for myself and my 20-y-o son via the NY State insurance exchange (younger son gets Child Health Plus). On MAGI of $40,000, we get a subsidy of $419 per month. Our monthly premium, post-subsidy, is $214. The coverage seems decent (Health Republic), though we haven't had to use it much yet.
4) My kid is having some mental health issues right now and I'm afraid we may have a year full of therapy/psych/possible rehab ahead of us, so I'm leery of shifting down to a "bronze" plan.
5) If I set up an HSA, my MAGI will go down to $34,000 or so. That increases my subsidy by about $72 per month.
6) But in the "silver" realm, I can only find 2 plan options. Both are a good bit more expensive than the plan we have, even taking into account the greater subsidy I would have. The better of the 2 silver HSA options (a better insurer that people I know like more) would cost me $439 per month, post-subsidy. That is an increase of $2,694 per year.
So, can anyone help me compare to apples to apples here and determine whether having the ability to sock away $6,550 tax-free per year is worth my paying an extra $2,694 per year in insurance premiums? Or should I stick with what I've got and just put my money in a taxable account, since I'm not paying much tax anyway?
Are there factors that I'm not considering but should be?
I welcome your input.
