Traditional Plan Vs.
Health Savings Account
While you could
contribute more or less money, the figures in the table above show the immediate
tax benefit to moving your money into an HSA. Even though a $225 to $675
reduction in your tax bill may not seem a lot, this benefit is compounded when
you consider the affect of tax deferral of the money growing inside your
account. Now let's look at the total Cost/ Benefit analysis.
The graphic above
shows the differences between the monthly costs of a traditional health plan
with a $1,000 deductible, and a HSA Plan with a $2,600 deductible. The key
assumption is, there are no claims made for medical bills. In such a case, the
cost/benefit is straight forward. The total layout of funds, as shown by the
red bar ($200), is the same. However, the HSA plan has taken half that amount
from one of your pockets and put it into another one of your pockets.
The yellow bar depicts the $100 deposit into your HSA fund. So you still own
that money, it's just saved in a special account.
BACK
