JH 47 - "Scotty Screwya"

Scotty Screwya

Joe Hill LTD Project

This is a special Joe Hill Message. Part I of a two-parter about HSA's. It is long and complex, but I have summoned a specialist to help. Here you get to meet my acquaintance, Scotty.
.........................In Solidarity, Joe Hill

Hi, my name is Scotty Screwya.

Joe asked me to take over on this dispatch to ya'll because Joe thinks a good screwing deserves to be explained by an expert. First, I have very good credentials about knowing how to screw workers. I worked for Ronald Reagan when we fired all of the PATCO workers in 1981. That was fun. I've tackled Teamsters, steamrolled steelworkers, taught teachers a lesson and chopped the woodworkers down to size.

I spent a lot of time working on the legislation that reformed the Medicare Act to supposedly give seniors prescription coverage. That one was very way cool, because it doesn't start until 2006, and gives all of our pharmaceutical company buddies time to increase the costs so high that there is nothing in it for the senior. Oh, that one felt so good. This Health Savings Account deal is part of this legislation - one of the biggest screwing of the public and seniors ever perpetrated - so you know it is not intended to do you any good either. So now that you know that I know what I'm talking about, I have accepted the fee from somebody named Joe Hill to explain this screw job to ya'll.

LTD is truly a great big screw job for proposing this. You LTD employees are truly blessed.

First, lets get down to one of the basics. Any money that you save in your Health Savings Account (HSA) is to be used for health costs only with a high deductible insurance plan. The enacting legislation has some limits as how much the maximum contribution out of pocket costs can be. You can find out all kinds of facts put in the most positive light at the US Treasury Department's web site.

The following information is from the Treasury Department:
Maximum amount that can be contributed to an HSA (and deducted) = lesser of:
– Amount of High Deductible
or
– Maximum specified in law (indexed annually by M-CPI)
• $2,600 (self-only coverage) - 2004
• $5,150 (family coverage) - 2004

Is LTD going to deposit $5,150 per employee in the HSA? I doubt it because then it would not be a real good screwing. They may deposit $2,000 but that is one-fifth of $10,000. In other words, it will take five years to reach the maximum out of pocket savings IF YOU DON'T GO TO THE DOCTOR, HAVE AN INJURY OR ACCIDENT, OR NEED MEDICAL ASSISTANCE OF SOME KIND. If you are a family person you will not save very much. Deposits can be made by employers or employees, so if LTD doesn't, you better, but then that's a pay cut, isn't it? There is also a chart showing the maximum out of pocket and Max HSA Deposit permissible in the same information.
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