Which Health Plan? : Kaiser Co-Pay Select Plan (w/o HSA) or HDHP with HSA
Burner account. Trying to figure out what to do for open enrollment and hoping this smart group can weigh in if there are things I am not considering. My company has a number of health insurance plans available, but I’ve narrowed it down to 2 and I am hoping this group can share their thoughts which makes more sense.
In previous years my employers haven’t had a Kaiser plan, so this is throwing a wrench in my usual strategy of just going for the HDHP so I can get the HSA (previous employers have always put in 1-2k into the HSA for me, which was extra nice). This year I have the Kaiser option and the HDHP has the option for a self funded HSA, but no employer contribution. I’ve always gone the HSA route, maxed out my HSA, not spent any of the money, invested it, and the plan is to just keep it for tax free medical expenses in retirement.
I should also note that this year I need to get an expensive screening test, but that I won’t need to get it again for 2-5 years. With that in mind, I am leaning toward Kaiser this year and switching back to my HDHP route (with HSA) next year. The thing that gets me though is that we will probably have kids in 3ish years, so I only have a limited amount of time left where I think the HDHP plan makes sense, which gives me a limited number of years left to max out the HSA before I let it sit and compound.
I’ll lay out the things I am considering for each and would appreciate this group’s thoughts. Also, let me know if there is stuff I didn’t include/should be considering.
KAISER CO-PAY PLAN:
-Monthly premiums: $113 ($1350/year)
-Deductible: $750
-Anticipated monthly prescription cost (doesn’t count toward deductible): $3 ($36/year)
-Anticipated cost of cancer screening (won’t repeat for 2-5y): $825
-HSA or FSA?: FSA (plan would be to put what I expect to spend in an FSA and then put 6.5k in a backdoor Roth)
UHC HDHP:
-Monthly premiums: $52 ($624/year)
-Deductible: $2000
-Anticipated monthly prescription cost (counts toward deductible): $50 ($600/year)
-Anticipated cost of cancer screening (won’t repeat for 2-5y): $1100
-HSA or FSA?: HSA (plan would be to max out HSA [~4k] and then put 2.5k in a backdoor Roth)
Which plan would you go with and why?
