<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Laura,     I'm really surprised to hear of your troubles with the MSA's. I have had mine about as long and have had no trouble with claims at all. Yes the deductible is high but my family and I don't go in for hang nails and the like as many folks do. I think that's a good part of what ruined the insurance industry. You may want to check with your agent to see if you can adjust anything to something more suitable for you and yours. Greg Laura Olsen wrote: <blockquote TYPE=CITE> Willem,Not quite, Wim. They don't lend you anything. An MSA is in two parts.  One is the Insurance Policy and the rest is the amount that goes into your savings account.  Past the high deductable, the insurance policy pays a percentage of covered medical expenses like other policies.   I've been insured by Golden Rule's MSA since May of 1999 and it is handy to have access to those savings to pay medical bills as they come up (provided you have enough in the savings account.)  It is my experience though, that there is very little that I use that their policy will cover, although if it's a deductable medical expense, covered or not you can use the savings in your MSA to pay for  it.  It's also been hard to find physicians in my area that are included on their Preferred Provide list and their discounted Lab service is useless to my Doctors and I've never had a perscription that their discount card was able to help me with. My primary physician won't mess with filing their forms which creates more of a hassel. This could very well be the case for any insurance I get, even when I was paying almost $900 a month for me and my son my claims were frequently denied. Now I pay half that and almost $300 a month goes into the Savings account, less a $3 a month fee.  Also, (a plus) anything in your Medical Savings Account at retirement gets rolled over into an IRA.  Your insurance policy is a deductable expense and the amount you pay into the savings account is deductable.  The interest is tax deferred.  I haven't found a policy that's perfect yet. Not even close, but I can't afford to be uninsured.  A 5 hour trip to the emergency room recently cost me about $2300. I guess I'd just advise you read the fine print and watch out for those riders. Laura Olsen, RPT Team2001 Institute Director 44th Annual PTG Convention & Institute July 11-15, 2001 Reno, Nevada <a href="http://www.ptg.org/conv.htm" target="_blank">http://www.ptg.org/conv.htm</a>   [Laura Olsen] -----Original Message----- From: owner-pianotech@ptg.org [<A HREF="mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org">mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org</A>]On Behalf Of Wimblees@AOL.COM Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 9:42 AM To: pianotech@ptg.org Subject: health savings account was Re: health insurance   <blockquote>In a message dated 5/24/01 1:44:06 AM Central Daylight Time, rbrekne@broadpark.no writes:     <blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px" TYPE="CITE">I have found (through many past mistakes) that a "Medical Savings > Account" is the best way to go. I have mine through a company called Golden > Rule. They offer significantly lower premiums than any other company that I > have seen. The payment is roughly what i was paying before but the > difference between the actual premium and the payment is what goes in the > interest bearing savings account. This money can be used for any medically > deductible expenses you find throughout the year including but not limited > to satisfying the deductible. Please do yourself the favor of at least > checking into it. It really is the best thing going IMHO! > > Greg ></blockquote> The way I read this, the premium you pay goes into a savings account, and when you need to, you can use the saved up amount to pay the bill.  What happens when you have a bigger claim than what you have in your savings account? I presume Golden Rule will "lend" you the money to pay the rest of the bill. If so, what interest do you have to pay then? And if you decide to quit the company, will you have to continue to pay off your "loan," in addition to paying for your new insurance plan? Willem</blockquote> </blockquote> -- Greg Newell Greg's Piano Forté 12970 Harlon Ave. Lakewood, Ohio 44107 216-226-3791 <A HREF="mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net">mailto:gnewell@ameritech.net</A>  </html>