Oregon Medical Insurance > Health Savings Account Qualified Medical Plans >

Under the legislation passed by Congress, the HSA must be coupled with a high-deductible medical insurance plan. Individuals (Group Plans are also available) pay small medical bills out of their own pocket up to the deductible but have medical coverage in case of serious illness or accident. $1,200 deductible plan with a total out of pocket maximum of $5,950 per individual, and aggregate deductibles of between $2,400 with a maximum of $11,900 out-of-pocket for families. There are several companies in Oregon as of this writing which offer HSA qualified Major Medical Plans; Fortis, Regence, Kaiser, ODS, PacificSource, HealthNet, Providence, and LifeWise. 

Health Savings Account (HSA)

Health Savings Account (HSA) plans offer the ability to build up savings to pay for future medical expenses as a tax exempt savings account that is owned by you and managed by a financial institution. Like an IRA, contributions to an HSA are tax deductible and continue to grow tax deferred. Also, you can still deduct 100% of your monthly premium if you are self-employed. The cost of a high-deductible health plan is lower than a low-deductible plan. The contributions to an HSA can be used to pay for health care that is not covered under your traditional or PPO individual health plan. Examples of some of these forms of treatment are vision, acupuncture, chiropractic, or dental care. All of your unused contributions to the HSA will continue to grow. At age 65, you can use these accumulated funds as retirement income or to offset future health care costs such as long term care. All of the money deposited into your personal HSA is your money. If you change jobs or move, your HSA account still belongs to you.

Contributions are allowed up to 100% of the health plan deductible. The maximum annual contribution is $3,050 for self-only policies and $6,150 for family policies (indexed annually). Individuals 55-64 may make additional "catch-up" contributions of up to annually in 2009. A married couple can make two catch-up contributions as long as both spouses are at least 55. Catch-up contributions will help individuals accumulate assets for retiree health expenses.

Contributions to HSA accounts may be made by individuals, family members and employers. Contributions made by individuals and family members are tax-deductible (for the account beneficiary) even if the account beneficiary does not itemize. Employer contributions are made on a pretax basis and are not taxable to the employee. Employers will be allowed to offer HSA's through cafeteria plans. The investment earnings accrue tax-free.

HSA distributions are tax free if they are used to pay qualified medical expenses. Distributions made for any other purpose are subject to income tax and a 10% penalty. The 10% penalty is waived in the case of death or disability. The 10% penalty is also waived for distributions made by individuals age 65 and older. Upon death, HSA ownership may transfer to the spouse on a tax-free basis.

Although CDA Insurance LLC does offer HSA eligible health products, we are not qualified to offer the HSA's. Please contact your financial advisor to learn more about HSAs and how you may qualify. We have a list of the Financial Institutions we are aware of offering HSA accounts. We do have all of the HSA and MSA to HSA Rollover information on our HSA Washington site www.msawashington.com , and on our Oregon HSA website at www.hsaoregon.net .

Please submit a request or call for a quote on the plans available in your area.

HSA qualified plans are now available for groups as well as individual in Oregon. The plans for groups are limited at this time. More carriers are getting involved. Please email us

If you live in Oregon and would like information on HSA options please visit our HSA Oregon site www.hsaoregon.net

If you live in Washington and would like information on HSA options please visit our MSA Washington site www.msawashington.com