Chris Short: Regarding Veterans and Health Savings Account
An Air Force veteran, Chris Short, sent us this letter that he sent to VA Secretary Shinseki and some of his elected officials in regards to veterans being locked out of Health Savings Accounts by the Affordable Care Act and the potential for saving us some money. Chris seems to know more about this subject than me, so I’ll let him present his case;
Dear INSERT NAME HERE,
As you may or may not know, all US companies that are providing healthcare to their employees are implementing Affordable Care Act (ACA) compliant insurance policies by the Jan 1, 2014 deadline. My company is providing its employees with very informative briefings on this topic (for which I am very grateful). The goal of this letter is simple; to inform you of something wrong with the ACA and try to right a wrong.
I am relatively healthy except for an injury that cut short my time in the US Air Force. I have long thoracic nerve palsy that causes winging of my scapula. As you can only imagine this is very painful. Every day I experience nonstop, incessant pain; some days are better than others but my pain scale lives between five and ten. I should also point out that I am not getting disability from the Veteran’s Administration (VA) for this injury (the exam and appeals process with the VA is very broken). Due to the expensive nature of treatment for my injury I use the Durham VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina and unless there is a clerical error I typically do not have to worry about coverage for my injury. I use the VA only for treatment of this specific injury as I am sure you are aware, the VA health care system is outmoded and unresponsive.
When the ACA was passed I was worried that it would affect my VA benefits but the VA assured veterans that would not be the case. Yesterday, during a briefing at my office, we had the pleasure of having a representative from our insurance company available to answer questions about changes to the health care system and our policies. I found out that the ACA is not going to have an impact on my VA benefits but will significantly limit my private insurance options (I have essentially only one option). Yesterday, a bullet on the presentation we were given stated if, “You have received benefits, including prescription drugs, from the Veterans Administration in the last three months,” you will be unable to contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA). This essentially removes my employer’s High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) with HSA as an insurance option for my family. It does not make fiscal sense to pay exorbitantly more for coverage without the HSA to ease the financial burden of costly medical treatments. In theory, my family is being excluded from a potential savings of $6,550 per year because of an expectation that the government that broke me has an obligation to fix me.
I have set aside the fact that my coverage is being cut and my premiums are going up because I understand the reasoning (educating people how to properly use healthcare would be a better effort prior to the ACA but that’s neither here nor there at this point). However, to take my care options from essentially four to one (a “Classic Care” plan that the Aetna rep clearly stated would be going away eventually) is not only not bad business but is going to cost me dearly when that “Classic Care” plan does indeed go away because I will not have an HSA to fall back on to pay for treatment.When the classic healthcare plans go away I will be forced to drop out of care from the VA and get the HDHP with HSA as my wife likely can’t be covered by the VA and my daughter lives in another state with her mother. I will have lost the potential of years of savings through an HSA. I choose to go to the VA because the treatments I am receiving at this point are experimental and I cannot get private insurance to cover them (nor should I given a promise made to me by my country).
I implore you to think about the spirit of the ACA and ask yourself if you would rather citizens pay their healthcare bills and veterans be stuck between two bad options or if everyone should have equal access to all forms of coverage just as they used to. I was on the bad end of the stick more than I cared to be while I was in the USAir Force. Now it seems veterans are on the wrong end entirely with this illogical provision in the ACA. Your attention to this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely yours,
Christopher Short
Category: Veteran Health Care
“Hey Missy? Here’s another one of those disgruntled veteran letters. I forgot. What is it we were told about them?”
“The sender’s name and address goes in E File 666. If his or her name is already on that list at least two times, send Form Letter 666A in reply. If it’s not, just delete it if an email and toss it in the burn bin if it’s paper.”
“Thanks, Missy. got it.”
Repeat after me: the ACA is a health insurance based, wealth redistribution tax.
People who work and pay taxes will have their benefits cut and costs raised so that “unfortunate” people can have a basic insurance plan that they can afford. You and I will pick up the difference.
@2. Look, before Oct 1, there were myriad people dead or dying all over the country. Some had crawled to the hospital only to be denied entrance. It was horrifying. But as of Oct 1, all that changed. Look around. No dead or dying people whose inability to afford health care has caused them a similar fate. And another thing. All of those folks in their late 20s and 30s who are healthy and suffer only a cold now and then are now forced, under penalty of law, to buy insurance and can now become seriously ill. And while I’m at it, think of all those poor college kids who had to purchase their contraceptives, effectively being forced to choose between textbooks and having babies.
2/17 Air Cav: I think you forgot the sarcasm tag in your 2nd comment above.
I don’t like the /sarc tag. If someone thinks I’m serious and responds, that holds additional entertainment value–at least for me.
2/17 Air Cav: true, but the /sarc tag does help out new and/or occasional readers who might not know your philosophy – and might mistakenly confuse you with a libidiot.
This administration and its enablers piss me off more with each passing day. There is NO excuse for this man’s treatment. None.
Your a sick puppy, Air Cav…Like it! hehehe…
Excellent letter, Chris. Hopefully you’ll ring at least one bell way in that VA tower.
You can still have a savings account that you can use for health care-related stuff. You just can’t label it for that or take a tax deduction.
That’s if you can afford it. I knew this was going to happen. I simply did not know how very bad it was going to be. And then I see things like this letter.
Can anyone explain to me why people have been bumped out of Tricare, when that abomination of legislation says it was supposed to stay in place? I’m trying to get my head around that.
Sounds like his Veteran Service Officer messed up. If his disability was due to the military; and his SMRs reflect that, he should have been awarded a service connection and possibly compensation. If someone has this guy’s email and wants to forward, I will see what I can do.
As for ACA, you don’t WANT to know how I feel about that! It would take WAY too long…..
@10, I believe you’re referring to the Tricare cancellations – 171,000 retirees and their families losing Prime coverage. Folks in certain areas not near military treatment facilities are being forced out of Prime, and on to Tricare Standard. It’s called scaling back the Tricare Prime service areas (not by me).
@12 OK, thanks.
I met a Navy retiree and his wife a couple months ago. They were forced off of Prime Remote and into Standard. Because of that they had to drive a couple hours to get to a VA facility since they couldn’t use Tricare for their in town doc.
If “you” live in a massive city with a military installation (who will treat you) and/or a VA Hospital, you “might” not notice the effect. However, everyone else is fucked, as I understand.
This letter is the epitome of veterans getting screwed because of currently elected officials. Oh, but it is “Bush’s fault” this happened, right?
A website germane to all this ACA stuff:
http://healthpolicyandmarket.blogspot.com/
The bona fides of the gentleman running the site are in the
right hand margin. A lot of topical reading.
@14, Eric, agree, and even living near a MTF doesn’t mean they’ll let retirees in as their primary care provider. When I transferred Tricare Prime from AZ eight years ago we were told there was no room for retirees in the DC MTFs. Waivers were available by request, and one was granted by Dewitt hospital commander.
With Walter Reed consolidated at Bethesda, the new hospital open at Belvoir, and the family care clinics privatized; I’m not sure of the current policy. I suspect policies and prices become more onerous as the WH looks to cut our benefits and increase our premiums.
Despite disagreements I have with Republicans, the fact that the Democrats hate us (or our benefits?), helps bring me back in focus.
I don’t like Health Savings Accounts anyway. The concept is simple, take pre-tax dollars and set them aside for personal medical care usage – co-pays, Rx, glasses, etc.
But, as with all Gubbment started programs, there is one major fly in the ointment. The annual use-it-or-lose-it. If you could set aside the money and let it accumulate, year after year, for some BIG medical treatment, I’d be all for it.
@17–same issue here. And while it’s okay for someone like me who has pretty much the same needs (glasses, prescriptions, Dr. visits, etc.,) year in and year out, getting some providers to adjust the amounts (especially down) is nearly impossible.
And now with Obamacare in full swing, the federal limit FOR A FAMILY is $2500 per year. Seriously? A trip to the ER for ONE person would eat up a big chunk of that.
@16 thanks for clarifying that one. Being I still have a couple years left before I can retire, I’m not totally sure, though as I’m not on an installation right now, I use the VA hospital near me for my MTF.
I also received the same letter saying “don’t worry, your VA healthcare qualifies as required medical care.” So, I’m glad I got to see this for myself as more proof.
What pains me the most is that, if we were lazy, didn’t want to work, sat on our asses popping out kids, the government would LOVE us. But because we EARN our benefits, “The They” hate us.
B Woodman: An HSA is actually portable and you can accumulate funds year after year. I think you’re confusing it with an FSA.
HC: Feel free to email me: me [at] chrisshort {.} net
There’s another fly in the ointment regarding FSAs and HSAs, albeit a less costly one. As I recall, due to a relatively recent change now all medicines purchased using a FSA or HSA must have a prescription.
That means if your doc tells you you need an antibiotic ointment, bandages, daily aspirin, OTC decongestant, antacids, OTC Prilosec, etc .l. . , you need to get them to write a prescription for you for those OTC meds. Otherwise you can’t use proceeds from a FSA or HSA to pay for those meds.
I believe that change was effective last year (Jan 2012). I could be wrong about that.
Between that and the “no rollover” BS, I’ve never contributed a penny to an FSA. And until the “no rollover” provision changes, I won’t.