Open Enrollment benefits changes??

[cableguy11]

My first attempt at some open discussion... It's that time of the year for open enrollment for 2015. My company is changing providers from United Healthcare to Cigna, and offering HSA. Looking for some input and advice. I for the life of me cannot find a reason to not take the HSA option, so looking for some advice with that...we are family of 5 yearly spend about 4K on health expenses with use of FSA account. The other thing is Cigna...everything will go thru them Medical, dental, vision, and life. Any good/bad experiences with them?

Thanks,
Art

[Brian]

In general, when I had the option, I took the "traditional" plan with FSA. However, like most companies, mine removed that as an option a year or two ago and has moved us all to some sort of high-deductible, self-pay, or other similar HSA plan. The options get worse every year, but I work for a large company so still have better options than most, and don't complain too much about it.

From what I've seen, UHC is usually better regarded over Cigna, but Cigna is usually still listed as one of the better companies overall. However, all these big companies have a huge number of plans, so your options at your employer may vary dramatically from some other company who also has the same providers.

You didn't mention what your other options are - if you still had the old options or not, or what the details are. But honestly, an HSA type account right now is very common and seems to be where the industry is currently going. Depending on your financial and tax situation, an HSA can also be used as an investment tool, so there are benefits there too if you get creative (Even if you only use $4k a year, it may make sense to take out the full $6650 and let the money grow tax-free. Again, depends on your situation, but you may not even want to reimburse yourself in the current year, as you can reimburse yourself many many years later if you keep receipts, after you've gained interest, etc). But all of that is something you'd obviously want to talk about with your tax person, (if that's not you). Usually you'll want to max your 401k and/or IRA first.

Good luck!

[Brian]

Also, I bet Cigna also has programs like UHC does where they give you money each year if you complete certain steps. Our program with UHC gives you a few hundred bucks if you take a short online training course, a few more hundred dollars if you sign up for one of their self-monitored training-type courses (help you lose weight, monitor your smoking habits, etc). There's also a 3rd option that gives you more money but asks a bit more invasive questions. The answers from the 3rd option are supposedly never sent to anyone other than your employer in the aggregate, so they can understand certain trends related to their insured employee base (how many heavy drinkers, smokers, overweight people, potentially pregnant wives, etc. do they have in the workforce) but it's understandable that not everyone is comfortable with the privacy issues, so it's optional. I forget the exact number, but we can "earn" at least $500 or $1000+ a year in HSA money depending on the year.

[cableguy11]

Yea, forgot about that...we have a choice for HSA or PPO w/HRA options. I didn't get to attend the "meeting", since they sent out the notice on Friday and the meeting was on Wednesday...I was off of work. I think I am in a pretty good situation..my company will fund 3500 in a HSA and then additional 500 when I do an online assesment with Cigna. If I go PPO then I get a HRA with 4000 in it. The advantage is the HSA I can pretty much use for anything and the HRA is limited to medical expenses, I cannot use the HRA for vision or dental costs.

It looks like I can still go to the same doctors so no loss there with Cigna. I think I had them at one point in my life but that was a long time ago.

[Irving]

My company plan automatically says I'm a tobacco user every year. I didn't catch it last year. I take that back, i KNOW I caught it last year, and they still charged me for it.

[Brian]

My company plan automatically says I'm a tobacco user every year. I didn't catch it last year. I take that back, i KNOW I caught it last year, and they still charged me for it.

They are spying on you. Just tell them it's MJ, not tobacco.

[th3w01f]

We've had Cigna through my employer for the last 7 years and it has been great so far; no issues with claims and customer servers has also been very good. Even getting on the phone a couple of times to explain to Dr. billing departments why they were trying to bill us the wrong amount. Their online site is also extremely helpful, you can find Dr, see claim details, etc.

We've been on the Open Access plan and have never had a problem with any Dr. we wanted to see being in-network.

HTH, Let me know if you have more questions.

Thanks

[cableguy11]

We've had Cigna through my employer for the last 7 years and it has been great so far; no issues with claims and customer servers has also been very good. Even getting on the phone a couple of times to explain to Dr. billing departments why they were trying to bill us the wrong amount. Their online site is also extremely helpful, you can find Dr, see claim details, etc.

We've been on the Open Access plan and have never had a problem with any Dr. we wanted to see being in-network.

HTH, Let me know if you have more questions.

Thanks

Open Access plan is what they are offering us also. Thanks for the info. Right now I am leaning towards the HSA open access plus.

-Art