LOOK for an HSA compatible health plan

Although I am a medical professional, I recently found myself in the position on needing to buy my own health insurance. First I considered the prospect of COBRAing the health plan I had. Not a bad idea, especially if you have a preexisting condition. However, at $800 per month the cost was too high. So I went out for a catastrophic plan with a deductible of $2400/$4800 for the individual and family deductible. Since I could afford having to pay the deductible and since I can basically self-diagnose and treat myself and know and emergency, not a bad idea for me. The plan I chose also covered my wife and pregnancy, it was the Blue Shield High deductible. As a bonus, it also covers 30% of meds from the start.

A word of warning. I was initially denied from the plan because my doctor had written a rule out shoulder injury in my chart. I have no shoulder problems. This is one of the HMO scams, they simply will not right for anyone with any kind of medical problem, pushing you into the high risk and very expensive state pools. Based on my relationship with my physician, I immediatley initiated an appeal and a personal letter from my physician explaining the error, and the decision was reversed. I'm not sure everyone is ready to do this, but i would encourage you to appeal. I also got a new year's present, a 20% increase in my rate as the HMO's prepare for state mandated health care premiums in my state.

One thing I didn't do is add my child. I got my child a separate, 30% copay plan directly from the same insurer. Why? Your kids are much more likely to get sick and they need regular Dr. visits. Also, it was cheaper to break out my child rather than do a family plan, pulling my child out only cost about $100, after the new year 20% price increase. A couple of more tips for kids, take your child to public health if you don't get free or $10 vaccinations from your health plan. It is usually cheaper. Also, if you make less than around $52,000 for a family of three, sign your kids up for healthy families. The plan is comprehensive and co-pays are very cheap. If you qualify, it's not a good idea to not take advantage. This year you may even be able to sign up as well as a parent even if you don't qualify for medicaid. Keep a look out for this.

If you actually use an HSA compatible plan you can also sign up for an HSA account. Look at Wells Fargo, they have a program now. You can put up over $5,000 a year in your HSA. However, don't use the money for healthcare unless you have to. It is more of an IRA type account. Save the money for when you are retired and need to supplement Medicare if it still exists or you can always pull the money out and pay taxes after a certain age.

Best regards and Keep well.

Dr. Doug

Use Rebates When You Shop On Line.. Here are two that work for me.

The most important thing you will ever learn about saving money is attitude.

It isn't really that $4 cappucino from Starbuck that ruins your budget (although spending over $1000 bucks a year on coffee is alot), it is your attitude towards saving money. If you think before you spend, even if you are only saving a few percent, in the end you will constantly be working towards saving money.

My first big tip has nothing to do with medicine, health insurance, or law (subjects I will be discussing in the future). My first tip is to use rebates when you shop on line. Why? Well if you do alot of shopping and you save from 1-5 percent or more on every purchase, your rebates will add up. Before you buy anything on line, always check at least two rebate sites. The two I use are Ebates, www.ebates.com and a secondary site. Qdeals, www.qdeals.com. I have had a better experience with Ebates, but both have paid out for the last few years.

I'm looking at my checks right here, one for $14.97 and the other for $18.74 for this quarter's purchases.

The other thing you want to do is to use the sites' coupons. If you use a coupon on the site, you should get both the coupon and the "ebate". I've been doing alot of shopping at Overstock, and besides the 4% rebates, I've been using coupons up to 10%. You should also google for a "discount coupon" at the store. If you have a 20% coupon it's better than using a 2% rebate.

Please also follow your common sense. Always check several review sites before you purchase from a new store. Make sure there are hundreds of reviews, a new store could post a few fake reviews of itself. I usually read some of the latest reviews to make sure they sound legit.

Have fun shopping and remember to shop safe and focus yourself on saving money and buying value.

Welcome to Frugal MD

This discussion will focus on frugal ideas that I have, things I'm doing to save money, or anything else that might be helpful in order to make ends meet.

I probably don't have any more insights on the topic of finances than any of you. However, I am a licensed physician with a board certification in Preventive Medicine and I do have a few insights into health care finances and some other areas of scientific or social interest.

I was inspired by some of the responses I have received from friends and colleagues who have noticed that I do things to save money. Why would I even waste my time saving some money, what is a few bucks worth anyway. Well, my key argument is not that budgeting or saving a dollar or two is going to make a huge difference in your life, however, it is the mindset that you are making intelligent choices in your life, in one area finance, in other areas it may be your work hours or travel, that result in an improve your quality of life. If you save a few bucks on coffee every week, and then you save tens of dollars shopping on the internet, you may end up saving tens of thousands of dollars buying (or not buying and renting) a house or having a 401k or Health Care Savings account to rely on in retirement.

Even if nobody reads this I will be able to look back and chronicle some of my ideas in the area of saving money.....

here goes.

Welcome to Frugal MD.