I have a High Deductible Health Plan which offers a Health Savings Account that can be used to pay for doctor’s office charges, tests and medicines. I currently fund the account by putting in a set amount every month and right now that amount stands at $75. I contribute the same amount every month via automatic transfer from my ING account and it is that $75 that is counted in my zero based budget for the month.
I do not spend $75 every month on doctors and hospitals so any unused money gets rolled over in the HSA for the next time that I might need to use it. So in February I used $264 on doctors fees but it did not mess up the budget because the money was taken out of an account that had already been funded $75 for a few months.
I like the idea of building up a savings bank by having a set amount every month in my budget so that I can maintain a fixed set of expenses. This is the same process that I use for other spending accounts like my Splurge Fund. I just keep adding a preset monthly amount and then when I need something it does not matter how much it costs as long as there is enough in the account to cover the cost.
I too have a high deductible health plan and contribute a set amount to it each month. Right now that amount is $50 for me because I don’t go to the doctor too often.
The thing I like best about the HSA account is that even if I switch health coverage and no longer qualify for the HSA account, I can still use that money for qualified health expenses.
Great job on using your HSA Dave. I think that might have been the biggest draw to me for having the HSA and I can now see it coming into play as I am about to lose my current job. So if my next job does not have an HSA I can still use the money and not have to stress about losing it like if I still only had the FSA.
This seems like an interesting plan and $75 a month isn’t really that much for some peace of mind.