Mr. Small Businessman, Ms. Small Businesswoman, Meet a New Way to Help Pay for Your Health Care

I’m a huge advocate for Health Savings Accounts.  Now there’s a blinding flash of the obvious, since this blog is dedicated to everything HSA, health, health, consumer driven health.  And naturally I’m all about saving money.

Recently, we’ve been discussing the merits of a new program, My HSA Rewards which is an online shopping program that helps consumers save money on the stuff they buy every day as well as the stuff they buy every so often and put money into their health savings account at the same time.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I helped put that program together, so while I am biased, I am honestly biased.  My background is loyalty marketing and I’ve been involved with, helped build, partnered with, benchmarked, and analyzed some of the world’s most prolific loyalty programs.  So I do have some credibility when I say things like “My HSA Rewards is an extremely easy program to sign up for and use, its value proposition is competitive with pretty much every online shopping program out there, and is the leader in its space.”

The above sounds like a big fat ad, and to some extent it is, but I want to talk for a moment about how I have been using My HSA Rewards for my business.  I am a small businessman who, among other things, helps companies make their loyalty programs better.  In the course of my business, I have had the need recently to purchase travel, computers, printer ink, printing services, wireless services, reference books, and dining. I try to push as many of those purchases through My HSA Rewards.  Some of the brands include Staples, HP, Priceline, Vistaprint, Restaurant.com, and 1,2,3 Inkjets and by using them, in addition to saving money on the purchases themselves, I am approaching $200 in incremental savings into my Health Savings Account.  As the thriftiest guy on the planet, that makes me feel pretty good.

A Free Way To Help Pay For My HSA

Last week I filed my taxes.  Well, actually I filed an extension, but you get the drift. Prior to doing that though,  I ploughed as much as I could into my HSA, to lower my tax liability for 2009 (I’m self-employed so I get to write down my HSA contributions 100% from my income).  But over the past year I’ve “found” nearly $150 that will be deposited into my HSA for 2010.  And the rate I’m going, I’ll probably “find” another $150 before the year is done.

How so you ask?  I’ll get to that in a minute.

You might be thinking, this guy is going to put a whopping $300 into his HSA.  Big whoop if his deductible is $10,000, that’s hardly a dent.   But I look at every dollar I contribute in as important, and I look at it from a relative perspective.  In my world $300 is the cost of a couple of visits to the doctor for my kids when they catch whatever is going around that month.  Or it’s the annual cost of one of my kids acne medicine.  Or it covers the difference between what my insurance policy pays for well care (included in my policy) and what the doctor actually bills me for the visit.  So for me, $300 of “found” money is real.

Last summer a program called My HSA Rewards was quietly launched to help folks like me save for my health care expenses.  I joined the program online and then when I need “stuff,” I try to buy as much of it as I can through the My HSA Rewards website.  Every time I buy “stuff,” a % of my purchase is returned to me, and specifically into my, My HSA Rewards account, where I can keep up with it.  When I have accumulated $50 in “stuff” related $s, I click a button and the money is sent to my HSA  at my bank.  It doesn’t matter what bank I use; so if I ever move my account from one bank to another, I can continue to earn $s in the program and transfer the funds into my HSA.

So what is my personal definition of “stuff”?  In the past year, I have purchased a tea kettle, two de-humidifiers, airline tickets, hotel nights, sheets, skin care products, compact discs, restaurant discount vouchers, electronics including a laptop, text books for my kids, printing services, ink for my printer, and flowers for my Momma (twice).  In all, I made 44 purchases for stuff I was going to buy anyway, from vendors I trust, at competitive pricing.  In fact the program has something like over 400 merchants in the program, so there’s a pretty good chance that if you can think it up, you can buy it through My HSA Rewards.     

Total no freaking brainer.  Especially, since there is not cost to sign up. 

Bottom line, I like the program, it is easy to use, and all the little purchases and big support my desire to find more efficient ways to save, and specifically save for my health care.

Health + Care + Reform Does Not Equal Health Care Reform

I was perusing the Wall Street Journal this morning (now ain’t I smart?).  Somebody who actually paid for the thing left it on the counter at the Waffle House, and I felt compelled to give it a look before it got its coffee and grease on.  Anyway, the article was basically saying that the most liberal left was freaking out because they believe there is neither “health,” nor “care” nor “reform” in the current Senate goulash stewing around the halls of Congress.

As I was sipping on my hot cup of coffee I thought to myself;  for once the most conservative right and the most liberal left can probably come to agreement on the left’s assessment.  Broader coverage, lower costs, better care, portability, “If you like it you can keep it,” blah blah blah.  It ain’t in there.

Suffice it to say while those who lean to the right and those who lean to the left have a far different view of what health care nirvana  should be, they can both look at what’s waddling through the room and agree, it’s not a duck.

Other WSJ news?  Well retailers are being more surgical (see we can always toss in some health care lingo), with their promotional activities this holiday season in attempts to keep from trashing their margins and the stock market dropped by something like 132 points yesterday on the account of the news of a stronger (healthier) dollar globally.

 Hey, if a world leader farts in Copenhagen this week will it accelerate global warming?  There certainly has been enough hot air this week to melt the snow.   Grab your surgical masks and take lots of vitamin C.  In case you missed the 411 folks, it’s flu season.

When Cleanliness Is Next to Godliness And Puts $ Into Your Health Savings Account.

I just earned $5.00+ toward my Health Savings Account.

So I have been going crazy lately over My HSA Rewards, and with good reason.  The day before Thanksgiving, my daughter announced she was out of her face washing rinse.   As many kids her age, she is battling zits.  And as many kids her age, she didn’t bother to tell us she needed more zit wash until she was totally out.

Until last Wednesday, she purchased this magic potion face wash from her dermatologist’s office.  I was always very suspicious of this to begin with because the wash is quite expensive and seemed only to be available right there at the dermo’s office. Hmmmmmm.

Anyway, the dermatologist happened to be out of the magic potion and were closing early that day, so even if they had had the stupid stuff, there was no way we were going to be able to get it until this week.

Having had tons of luck so far with making purchases from everything from de-humidifiers, to hotels, to ink for my printer through My HSA Rewards, and saving money toward my HSA in the process, I went on a magic potion zit wash hunt on through their website.  In about one minute I found the stuff through their site from SkinStore.com.  Not only was the was a little bit cheaper than the dermatologist, they were having a sale that day and with the purchase of three bottles of wash, my daughter received some magic potion face cream for free.

But here is the kicker.  SkinStore.com processed the order the same day it was placed, and it was sitting in my mailbox on Friday courtesy of the United States Postal Service. AND shipping was free with my purchase, so I saved on the gas I would have burned to drive 30 miles round trip to Dr. Zit Squeezer.  Because the cash award for SkinStore.com through My HSA Rewards was 6%, I will also be earning over $5.00 into my Health Savings Account.  I like that.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday at My HSA Rewards

So rather than joining the thundering herd of shoppers Friday last, I woke up at the crack of dawn (5:50 a.m.) booted up my computer, went to My HSA Rewards and at 6:00 jumped from there to Staples.com where I did some Black Friday Christmas Shopping from the comfort of my couch. 

Now there are about 350 places to shop from My HSA Rewards, and at every one of them, in addition I get to the online deals offered by the retailers, I get some portion of my purchase back.  That means it goes into my account at My HSA Rewards and then can be transferred to my Health Savings Account once I earn $50 in cash awards back from my various purchases.

But back to my Black Friday spending spree for a moment.  I happened to be shopping for a laptop, office software and an external hard drive for my computer.  Here is what was cool.  I got all the benefits of the Black Friday Sale Staples was having in their store, I did not have to trample or be trampled in the process and the items I purchased will be delivered to my house tomorrow.   In total, the sale savings I received was in the neighborhood of $270 to $300.  Shipping was free and because Staples is part of www.myHSArewards.com, I will earn an additional $10+ back to my health savings account in the form of a cash reward.  Which, incidentally will put my total HSA savings in the My HSA Rewards program over $100 in the past several months.

As a special call out to Staples, I even got a call from them last night confirming my order.  Since I had never ordered online from them before, they wanted to make sure I wasn’t some crook out there using some other poor guy’s credit cared.  I thought that was pretty nice and appreciated that they were looking out for both themselves and me.

 Now today is Cyber Monday and there are a ton of aggressive online retailers out there trying to drum up business during this shopping season.  If you have an HSA and are planning to do any shopping, now is a great time to join My HSA Rewards and not only take care of your gift giving needs, but a great time to put a little extra money into your HSA for your future health care needs.

Let Santa Contribute To Your Health Savings Account (HSA)

Last week, while on a business trip, I put $3.33 into my HSA with the click of a mouse.  Whilst sitting in my hotel room, trying to be productive one evening I went to My HSA Rewards and through their website created a printed Christmas card of my kids through VistaPrint.  I had 100 cards printed which included 100 envelopes.  As a bonus they threw in a notepad with my kids picture on it for free as part of some promotion they had going on that day.  Sometime in the next couple of weeks, my cards will show up, we’ll address them and send ‘em on out.  The price was something like $33 for the cards including shipping, so I thought all in all, it was a great deal.

So what does this have to do with Santa and my HSA you are saying?  Well, in return for purchasing the Christmas cards through My HSA Rewards, I earned 11% toward my Health Savings Account for doing so.  So in addition to getting a great deal on printing, I also am putting away about $3.33 into my Health Savings Acount in the process.

But that is just the start of it.  In addition to printing, My HSA Rewards has way over 300 merchants in their program.  So, for example, I was looking at the HP Home Store for a computer for one of my kids for Christmas.  I found one I like, so when I pull the trigger on that, I’ll get 3% back on that purchase toward my HSA.

My wife wants a new comforter for the bed to replace the 1988 dust collector that’s sitting there now, so I am looking at Overstock.com.  If I purchase from Overstock through the My HSA Rewards website, I’ll get 4% back on that.  I already bought two de-humidifiers from them after the 500 year floods we had in Atlanta earlier this fall.

The point of all this, is that for every dollar I spend on family Christmas shopping through My HSA Rewards, I will get some portion of that back in the form of a contribution to my Health Savings Account.  I joined the program for free this past summer and I have already earned over $90 in contributions to my Health Savings Account.  That’s found money.   It’s like Santa putting money into my HSA.

Health Episodes In The Flying Petri Dish

I spent the better part of this week on a business trip in New Jersey and the worser part of it fighting off some sort of plague that decided to infest my body.  Basically, I picked up  some sort of crud that started as a tickly cough and ended up with me barking up phlegm bombs, my eyes crusting up like a loaf of bread, the inside of my mouth looking and feeling like I had swallowed boiling water, and my body generally feeling like an alien had invaded it.  I bought a ton of OTC goodies from a CVS Pharmacy which, of course, I could have paid for from my Health Savings Account which HSA rules allow for.

Having been sick all week, I was uber sensitive about the well being of my fellow passengers and was also wondering how many other plague carrying, pflegm barking compatriots there were on that plane with me.  Normally squalor doesn’t particularly bother me, but damned if I was going to spread what I had to 150 total strangers.  Prior to boarding the plane I washed my hands.  When I got on the plane I pulled out my handy “Wet Ones” and wiped my hands again, my tray table and the arm rests of my chair.  Even Michael Jackson would have been proud of me.  Midway through the flight, I went to the lav and washed my hands again while singing my ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle.  I was on the aisle of a three seat row and when I had to cough, I made sure to do it into my shirt sleeve.  Short of donning a containment suit, I think I did a pretty good job of not polluting the cabin.

The problem was, the guy sitting next to me, apparently was carrying a similar plague.  And sandwiched between me and another guy, he proceeded to cough liberally into his hands, all over the back of the tray table, on my shirt sleeve, on the other guy’s shirt sleeve, pretty much everywhere.  It was April showers in November, at 30,000 feet.  

If April showers bring Mayflowers and Mayflowers bring Pilgrims, then all the Pilgrims are going to have the plague and Thanksgiving is going to suck.  Got it?

The moral of the story is, for the sake of your fellow mankind, when you are on an airplane or any confined space for that matter, have some consideration man!  Wash your hands, cough on your sleeve.  It’s a flying petri dish for goodness sake, and we would all like to live to see another Thanksgiving.

God bless you.  Now go find a hanky

The Biggest Health Savings Account (HSA) Rules

Of course this is subject to opinion but at this time of the year, there are two specific HSA rules I like to focus on and remind people about.

The first is the establishment of one’s HSA account.  If you are one of those folks like me who got their HSA qualified High Deductible Health Plan early in the year, you might have been, ahem, a little bit slow to establish and the actual bank account (the HSA) that enables you to put $ aside for your present and future health care expenses.  You have until the end of the year (there are 31 days in December for those of us who are calendar impaired) to set up your account.

If you have not set up your HSA, there are two very good reasons why you should do it.  First off, you can not reimburse yourself from your HSA for any medical expenses you had prior to the date of the HSA being set up.  And secondly, you won’t be able to take any tax deductions for money you’d like to put into it for 2009.

The second rule ties to the first one.  So long as you get that account set up this year, you have until 4/15/2010 to make contributions for 2009.  This is key because even if you haven’t put a nickel in the account this year, you can still fund the account through 4/15/10 and take the full tax deduction for the deposit against your 2009 taxes.  If you do not take advantage of the tax benefits of your HSA you are “leaving free money on the table.”  And that’s, well, kind of stupid.

Now if you don’t have any $ to put into your HSA right now or would like to contribute more, one way to do so is through a program called My HSA Rewards.  It is a new stealth way to put $ into your HSA.  Basically it is a shopping program.  You shop through the merchants that participate in the program and get a % back from your purchases which can be deposited into your Health Savings Account.  Simple.

38 Ways to Travel, And Save Into My Health Savings Account (HSA)

When I was booking a trip to New Jersey this morning, I realized since the beginning of August I have earned  over $30 toward my Health Savings Account through a program called My HSA Rewards, just booking my travel.  If you follow this blog, you know that I am an advocate of that program which helps me  put more money into my Health Savings Account by shopping for the normal things I purchase every day.  

Basically I log in to the My HSA Rewards website, go to the shopping tab, and in the case of my New Jersey trip, click on the link to Priceline and book my trip.  The folks at My HSA Rewards give me 2%  for Priceline purchases which goes into my My HSA Rewards account.  After I  earn $50 into my account I can then transfer it into my Health Savings Account.

But here’s why I am babbling on about this.  Just in the past few weeks, My HSA Rewards has  added a lot of new ways to earn more HSA deposits.  And today as I was booking my travel, I counted up the ways to earn in just the travel category, and it added up to 38 different ways.  They are affiliated with a lot of the online travel sites including Priceline, Expedia, Orbitz and others; airlines like Delta, United and Virgin; Hotels , rental cars and luggage, you name it.  So now there are even more ways for me to earn when I book my travel.  And that’s on top of the hundreds of other ways to shop and earn.  The amount of the awards vary by merchant with some %’s back even in the double digits 

Excluding whatever I earned today from my Priceline purchase and another purchase I made from Overstock.com, to date I have managed to earn over $70 which ultimately will land in my health savings account.   I like that.  That’s $70 that won’t pinch my pocket when I need to use it for my family’s health care.

How Can I Fund My Health Savings Account (HSA)?

Face it,  lots of Americans including me, are trying to find better ways to save more and spend less.  Especially when it comes to health care.  We’ve written a lot on this site about ways to save on health care and you can peruse the archives if you are not a regular reader.  But there is one program out there that we really like, and that’s why you see the green banners to the right and left of this post that lead to a program called My HSA Rewards .

We will be writing more about it over time, but the elevator speech goes something like this: “Become a member for free in My HSA Rewards and then when you shop for the normal things you buy every day or for special occasions, do it through www.myHSArewards.com and a portion of the $ you spend will be set aside.  Once you have earned $50 in awards from the purchase you have made you can deposit it into the HSA of your choice.  The rewards vary by merchant and range anywhere from 1% to 25%.” 

The program just launched a few months back with close to 300 online merchants.  Just in the last week they have added another 40 or so merchants to the program.  Think of the brands you shop, and there is a pretty good chance they are on the list of merchant partners.  It’s a great little program that wants to make a difference in how people save for their health care.  It’s pretty much a total no brainer.