HSA, MSA, FSA, Medicare

Last year was pretty heavy with medical expenses, so here's a compilation of links to reading material about the current government health care services.

First, some inspirational/depressing informatin, "Doggedly Persistent, Untying Medicare Knots for the Elderly from the NYT.

FSA - Flexible Spending Account - a savings account that will give you a debit card to pay for copays, drugs and other medical things. It saves money, but, you need to spend the total amount saved every year. You also need to turn in receipts.

HSA - Health Savings Account - a savings account for people who have "high deductible health plans" (aka, crappy health insurance). You put money into the account to save up for health expenses in the future.

MSA - this predates the HSA, and you can't really get them now.

The above are predicated on having insurance. FSAs are for people with employer-style insurance, and HSAs and MSAs are for people with HDHPs or self-employed.

LAC+USC's ATP - Ability to Pay and Pre-Paid are two lost-cost ways to obtain health care. If you are low-income (under $10,000/year for an adult) you qualify for ATP. If you are over but uninsured, you can "pre-pay" which means paying their fee per-visit.