Check Your Rx CoPay Regularly

I had an interesting thing happen with an Rx I've been on for some time. We recently changed insurance from UHC to UHC Oxford. The Rx I was on changed tiers for some reason and instead of a $5 copay for generic preferred (tier 1), I was now faced with a $30 generic non-preferred (tier 2). I was frustrated non the less as I would have thought the tiers would have stayed the same. I called UHC/Optum and they explained the $30 was correct. Thankfully the Optum Rx website has a pricing tool. The tool takes in to account your plan and shows you the copay/your cost you would pay at various pharmacies, including optum mail order.

Utlizing the tool, I actually found an independent pharmacy within walking distance to the Walgreens I would normally go to. There my copay was only going to be $7.46. Odd I thought and remained suspect. I went to the pharmacy and had them transfer the script from Walgreens. I picked it up and was happily surprised the cost was the $7.46 I was quoted. I looked at all my other meds on the tool and the copays are the same as Walgreens, it was just this one.

The moral of the story is... check around for any copay/cost differences. You might think since you are using a preferred pharmacy you are getting the best deal, however not always the case!

HSA Accounts Do Die

Ever hear of an inherited HSA? For a spouse yes. For a non spouse no. Once you die a non spouse beneficiary loses any tax advantage a HSA offered the account holder. While this shouldn't be viewed ad a deterrent from saving for a rainy day, it should be considered in your final years and something which should be talked about with your non spouse beneficiaries before you get sick.

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/19/dont-use-your-health-savings-account-funds-right-away.html

HSA Qualified Plan

The HSA qualified plan just makes sense. Liken it to how we buy the rest of our insurance; to not use it! Consider what Auto insurance would be like if we could set aside money tax free for our out of pocket costs of our car.