- cross-posted to:
- personalfinance@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- personalfinance@lemmy.ml
Shit like this is the cornerstone of modern liberal policymaking. I already knew that rich people can get higher tax brakes with these - poor people who pay little in taxes can get literally a 0% tax break in some cases. But apparently, you just LOSE all of the money every 12-14 months (depending on the plan) and it is gone forever? You can literally LOSE money (in total) with a stupid savings account. Insane! And yea, it can be technically "your fault" for forgetting to file claims, but if you didn't have any healthcare costs in that year... you can't file any claims and you just lose all of the money. You are literally gambling.
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I'm so confused
My company offers a Health Savings Account (HSA) and there are many people who have not lost the money for years even without using any and the HR documentation also reflects that
Why is this shit so complicated and confusing
Matt is talking about Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), not Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). You can only get an HSA if you are in a High Deductible Health Plan, which is a health care plan that has a deductible of $4000 per person and total out of pocket of $7000 per indiviudal. FSAs are for people who aren't on HDHPs, and I agree with Matt they are bullshit. I only did it once, and I ended up having to basically go buy $200 of first aid stuff and other random shit in order to not lose my money. HSAs are yours forever, the contributions come out pre-tax and lower your taxes, there is an annual contribution limit, and you can usually invest some of the funds after a certain amount. They are kind of like a health 401k. I have been on an HDHP for the past 5 years or so because the total out of pocket maximum I would have to spend would be significantly less than if I had to max out benefits on the PPO and offered by my employer. Overall I like the HSA, and I would never do an FSA again unless it was for a very small amount that I knew I was going to spend, but also the system is stupid and we should just have an NHS.
EDIT: If you are crazy like me and track all of your spending, you could maybe get an FSA to work in your favor, because there's a ton of shit that is eligible. Pretty much anything vaguely related to health, even massage guns.
https://fsastore.com/
Basically of this is just a tax avoidance scheme, though.
Also, all of this shit was invented by Milton Friedman and the Chicago Boys.
My company has been trying to con us into FSA and HSA plans for years now.
One of the things they rolled out was a 'cost calculator' which was absolutely rigged to conclide you would alwazys save with the FSA / HSA over a traditional PPO plan.
I showed to to my management, and the rest of the people in my office. Needless to say, they never rolled out that propagandistic rigged calculator again.
The union fought to keep on the PPO plan every year.
Yes these FSA and HSA accounts are fucking scams. Bronze health plans or high deductable plans are fucking scams. Now that they've been rolled out for a number of years people are finding out how limited and how much of a PITA they really are.
They work for very specific conditions. If you don't land in that special goldilocks zone of conditions they can work against you. There are giant lobbies who fight to keep this gamble going as more and more suckers drive these private money makers for the banks higher. CHUDS vote against M4A - what will happen to my FSA/HSA money? I wrote to :yes: campaign with this question and they said the money would be refunded.
If we had M4A single payer then things would be less confusing and less of a gamble. Less paperwork. Less worry.
HRAs (Health Reimbursement Account) are funded 100% by your employer, but you don't get to take the money with you when you leave. My old employer had one that covered the second $2500 of the $5000 deductible once you covered the first half. It's good that you dropped the FSA, even if it's by accident.
These are shit, some don’t even count towards mental health, certain prescriptions, vision… they basically have the same rules as insurance which who the hell knows
Is the money lost or is the balance simply refunded to you at the end of the year?
I'm enrolled in a Medical Savings Account like this, and anything left over is either refunded or rolled over, not lost.
This is distinct from an HSA, where the money compounds year to year if unspent.
the flex accounts get refunded to the employer which is just... incredible
Depends on the account, there is a study in the middle of the video for different types of accounts. In this case, the money goes back to the employer, even tho this money would be part of your paycheck if you didn't have the savings account to begin with.
