The cost of health care is skyrocketing — for humans and for pets. (But we get to pay for both). Between technology and our ever-growing love for our pets, the prices are through the roof. The same end-of-life care questions we face with mom we face with our pets, now that there is a way to keep them alive longer. Innovative solutions abound. For Fido, there is pet insurance. Or just pay the $20,000 tab (see article here). The article also details some of the costs you can expect to incur these days with pet care.
For humans there are Health Savings Accounts. A peculiarly American approach, it gives you a premium and tax break in return for a higher deductible. The details are mesmerizing. Ask me!
Since you asked — like everyone our family struggles with outrageous premiums. This year I sat down with my insurance broker to review my options, including “HSA’s”. It took over a week, multiple phone calls and spreadsheets to understand the HSA. Let’s see — there is your in-network and your out of network. They each have separate deductibles. Deductibles for individuals and for the family. And then you have to estimate your health costs for the next year to see whether you really will get a benefit (one benefit of an HSA is that if you have extensive costs and max your deductible, you are covered 100%, no co-pays).
In the end we decided to jump into an HSA. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that HSA’s are essentially unregulated and — you guessed it — there have been scandals. At least one company has gone under with millions of $ of deposits. The grizzly details are here.
Next I am sure someone will come up with Health Savings Accounts for Dogs** and figure out a way to make it tax-deductible.
** It was not so long ago that dependents’ social security numbers were not required on tax returns. When they were, the country lost millions of “dependents”!