The Health Savings Account (HSA) is an amazing tool to reduce
healthcare expenses and insurance costs. But do you lose it at
the end of each year, like with a Flexible Savings Account (FSA)?
Thank goodness, no! You do not lose your HSA money at the end of
each year.
Health Savings Account were created specifically to be BETTER than
their predecessors, Flexible Savings Accounts (FSA) and Medical Savings
Accounts (MSA).
Your HSA does not have to be used up within the year. In fact,
the money can just build and build each year if you don't need it. It
will be there for your health crisis if that ever happens.
If you never have that health crisis (and I hope that's the case for
you!) then you will have a nice little nest egg built up of
year-after-year of health savings plus the interest earned.
I really like the term "Health Savings Account." I like it
because it says that you can save by being healthy.
The healthier you are, the more money you'll have left in that account
when you retire.
And speaking of retirement, your HSA will act like a nice Individual
Retirement Account (IRA) as soon as you reach age 65. You'll be able to
withdraw money without penalty for any reason you wish. (But
you'll still have to pay tax on withdrawal, just like with a
traditional IRA).
My advice to you is put the maximum amount into your HSA every
year. The money will be there for you if you have a health
crisis, and it will be there for you in retirement if you manage to
stay healthy year-after-year.
Good luck with your healthcare, your health insurance and your HSA!
Daryl Kulak is the author of the book Health Insurance Off
the Grid. This easy-to-read book provides a simple,
detailed plan to reduce health insurance expenses by thousands of
dollars for people who are self-employed, unemployed or
underinsured. The book is available at the Website: http://www.healthoffthegrid.com
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