Aetna

Aetna Advantage Plans Brochure 

Managed Choice Open Access Traditional - Health Insurance Plan Options and Summary

Aetna provides two options for individuals and families within its Managed Choice Open Access health insurance plans that are HSA qualified. For individuals there is a $3,000 deductible and a $5,000 deductible plan choice. For families the deductible options are $6,000 and $10,000. Both HSA plans provide for 100% coinsurance. This means that once you meet your deductible for the plan year your covered health insurance expenses will be paid at 100% until you have met your lifetime maximum for the plan which is $5 million.  When one person meets the deductible for families everyone in the family has met the deductible for that year. The Aetna Managed Choice HSA plans also provide a co-pay for preventative doctor visits.

HSA Qualified Health Insurance Plans 

HSA qualified simply means that the health insurance plan meets the federal guidelines necessary to also be eligible to open a Health Savings Account (HSA). The Aetna Managed Choice HSA allows you to make tax deductible deposits into a Health Savings Account. A Health Savings Account is your own savings account that you can set up at your own bank and make deposits on your terms and on your schedule. You don’t have to contribute to a health savings account on a regular basis; in fact you don’t even have to have one to have the Managed Choice Open Access HSA health insurance plan. However, you are required to have a qualified HSA health insurance plan to open an HSA account. There is an annual limit to your contribution. For individuals the contribution for the 2010 tax year is $3,050 and for families the 2010 contribution limit is $6,150. An HSA can be very beneficial because its tax deductible dollars that you set aside for medical expenses. If you need to use the money for medical expenses you can take it out tax free. If you don’t the money contributed accumulates until needed. You can invest the money in the same way as an IRA. It is also similar to an IRA in that at age 65 you can take it out for any expense, however if you take it out for medical expenses it is totally tax free. Compare that to any other retirement planning tool. HSA’s are tax deductible on the way in with tax free accrual of earnings and tax free on the way out for medical expenses. As we age generally medical expenses will start adding up. It makes a lot more sense to pay for these escalating medical expenses during retirement with tax free HSA money than it does with taxable 401k or IRA money.

HSA Consumer Driven Health Insurance Plan

We all buy health insurance with the hope that we never need it. There is very little incentive in traditional health insurance plans to maintain a healthy lifestyle as a way to save money on health insurance premiums. With Aetna’s Managed Choice Open Access health insurance plans and consumer driven health plans a healthy lifestyle and healthy lifestyle choices directly affect your own personal finances. When you raise your deductible you lower your premiums. The money saved by lower your health insurance premiums puts money back in your pocket. If you have a low deductible on your health insurance plan your basically saying that you believe you will become unhealthy or sick and therefore are willing to pay the extra premium cost.  Raising your deductible is a belief in yourself that you will remain healthy. If you do remain healthy and contribute to your HSA eventually the money saved by increasing your deductible on your health insurance plan could equal your deductible and possibly far more. Now if you were to have a major medical event you have the deductible covered by money saved in your HSA, however if you remain healthy you can save the money and use it in retirement. This is a great reward for staying healthy and is what drives consumerism. Once you have money saved in your HSA you will want to keep it. This drives people to shop for the best prices on prescription drugs and other medical expenses. It is this type of philosophy that the terminology consumer driven health plans was derived.

 Aetna Advantage Plans Brochure

Managed Choice Open Access Value - Health Insurance Plan Options and Summary

Aetna Advantage Plans Brochure

Preventative and Hospital Care - Health Insurance Plan Options and Summary