Whether you currently have health and dental insurance or use an alternative type of plan such as a Consumer Driven Healthcare plan http://www.love2smile.net/ there is a way to put your money away in a "Pre-Tax" way when the time comes that you need to pay for those services.
Although Health Savings Accounts (HSA) have been around for a few years now too many people either don't know about them, have no idea how to use them or don't understand the great tax saving benefits of participating in them...
Although there are guidelines for using an HSA http://stanleyfeldmdmace.typepad.com/repairing_the_healthcare_/2009/03/consumer-driven-healthcare-plans-trickle.html you should still look into them before deciding that you wouldn't benefit from participating in one.....
The greatest part is that participating in them is FREE... Yes, thats right FREE.... There are some particulars that you need to know when doing your research and I've provided a great link here to a government site that will give you lots of great info when deciding if this type of program willw or for your particular situation http://www.ustreas.gov/offices/public-affairs/hsa/faq_basics.shtml .
If you currently have an employer sponsored or offered health and or dental plan you may be pleasantly suprised that they already have one in place and all you need to do now is enroll in it.. When doing this you will need to determine how much "Pre-Tax" money you want to contribute to it with each paycheck you received....
The basics to these plans are that you first need to do some calculations to decide what your 'planned' annual medical/dental expenses will be say for routine teeth cleanings, dental xrays an doctors office visit copays.. Once you setting on a figure you can then divide that by the months in the year an that will give you a very accurate figure when deciding how much to withold "Pre-Tax" each payperiod..
There is one catch: The monies that you put into your HSA must be all used by the current calendar years end or whatever balance is left in the account expires.... Knowing this upfront has its advantages as it can be a great motivating factor especially in the area of your dental health, as it can motivate you to at least get into the office for your every 6 month check up, have your cleanings and get those xrays.....
If your employer doesn't have an HSA available for you to participate in or you are self-employed as I am, you have another option but it does require some consistency and most importantly self control...
With the second option you won't have the "Pre-Tax" benefit however, all the monies not used at the end of the year are yours and you can do with them what you like, maybe a nice dinner out or a family vacation...
Option 2 is the "Cookie Jar Method" .......Just like it sounds you do the same calculations as with the HSA, figuring out what your annual out of pocket expenses will be for your healthcare but you put that money in your "Cookie Jar" each and every payperiod and then when you have those out of pocket expenses you've got the money right there to pay for them up front........
I use the Cookie Jar method as I'm self employed and I'm the only employee in my company LOL so it works very well for my particular situation....
For anyone not having an employeed sponsored health and or dental plan currently in place, there are great alternatives for people like us and thats in the area of Consumer Driven Healthcare... Although the plans are not insurnance they can save you and do save me thousands of dollars a year on my healthcare needs...
You can find out more about them by visiting: http://www.love2smile.net/
Have a great day and an even better year!
Jana Enos is a Licensed Vocational Nurse in the State of California as well as an Independent Benefits Specialist with Ameriplan http://www.love2smile.net/ . She has dedicated her time and energies to educate Americans on all aspects of healthcare and when possible enlighten them to areas of high quality alternatives to traditional insurance.
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