Help me make financial sense of my health care options.
September 25, 2010 10:48 AM Subscribe
Help me figure out how to deal with next year's health care for me and my family of three.
My current insurance (Oxford PPO) expires at the end of this month. In addition, I will become eligible for Medicare. in a couple of months. But wait, there's more!
I need about 20K worth of dental work. I don't have insurance that will cover dental (and if I did, it appears it will have a negligible effect on the bottom line, unless you can tell me otherwise.) My wife and I are a corporation, mainly because it was the only way to get decent health insurance in the first place. (I should put "decent" in quotes.)
The tools available seem to be:
1) trying to maximize a medical tax deduction, for this and/or next year.
2) changing my health insurance to be High Deductible so that I can have a HSA with which to pay my dental bills.
These can be used together or separately. (I have ruled out dental tourism.)
What I'm asking is, are there any other things I could try? Will either 1) or 2) make a significant difference in my costs? Are there differences to consider among HSAs or are they all about the same? Are there details I should know about or strategies I need to consider? (e.g. try to have all my bills fall in the same calendar year)
My accountant forgot to call me as he'd promised because he went to a Yankee game.
My current insurance (Oxford PPO) expires at the end of this month. In addition, I will become eligible for Medicare. in a couple of months. But wait, there's more!
I need about 20K worth of dental work. I don't have insurance that will cover dental (and if I did, it appears it will have a negligible effect on the bottom line, unless you can tell me otherwise.) My wife and I are a corporation, mainly because it was the only way to get decent health insurance in the first place. (I should put "decent" in quotes.)
The tools available seem to be:
1) trying to maximize a medical tax deduction, for this and/or next year.
2) changing my health insurance to be High Deductible so that I can have a HSA with which to pay my dental bills.
These can be used together or separately. (I have ruled out dental tourism.)
What I'm asking is, are there any other things I could try? Will either 1) or 2) make a significant difference in my costs? Are there differences to consider among HSAs or are they all about the same? Are there details I should know about or strategies I need to consider? (e.g. try to have all my bills fall in the same calendar year)
My accountant forgot to call me as he'd promised because he went to a Yankee game.
any particular reason you've ruled medical tourism? you'd save $$$$$ if you had your dental work done in mexico or even thailand or the philippines, even with airfare and lodging included. heck, you'd probably still save $$$$ even if you did it in a first world country like japan or singapore or somewhere in western europe.
posted by lia at 8:59 PM on September 25, 2010
posted by lia at 8:59 PM on September 25, 2010
Response by poster: Because I'd need ongoing maintenance and can't keep going back several times a year.
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:56 AM on September 26, 2010
posted by Obscure Reference at 5:56 AM on September 26, 2010
Get your dental work done at a university dental school.
posted by Ideefixe at 12:53 PM on September 26, 2010
posted by Ideefixe at 12:53 PM on September 26, 2010
HSAs are pretty much all the same. Gov't regs are responsible for that. The only real difference between carriers would be their rates (possibly) and their provider networks. Some carriers may vary on the fringe with certain benefits and what's covered or not (e.g., different carriers sometimes cover foot orthotics differently).
Depending on the nature of the dental work, it's possible it could be covered under medical. Though maybe you have looked into that already.
Medicare doesn't really come into play here as if you enroll in Medicare - since you're technically covered under an employer plan (as your corporation), you would be considered still employed and Medicare would be secondary. And their dental coverage is next to nil anyway.
posted by thatguyjeff at 10:17 AM on September 27, 2010
Depending on the nature of the dental work, it's possible it could be covered under medical. Though maybe you have looked into that already.
Medicare doesn't really come into play here as if you enroll in Medicare - since you're technically covered under an employer plan (as your corporation), you would be considered still employed and Medicare would be secondary. And their dental coverage is next to nil anyway.
posted by thatguyjeff at 10:17 AM on September 27, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ptm at 12:28 PM on September 25, 2010