Affordable Individual Health Insurance Plans - Should it Be a Health Savings Account Or a PPO?

With the price of healthcare sky high, individual and families looking for affordable Kentucky Individual Health Insurance Plans, a health savings account (HSA) has become an affordable option to pay medical bills. Money put into the account (subject to the IRS guidelines) is not taxed like other income and can be used to pay high deductibles or co-payments and even some over the counter medications. In Kentucky, one of the top insurance companies is now offering a combination coverage plan which can help make obtaining health insurance more affordable.

The plan comes from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and is known as the Lumenos HSA. Lumenos is one of the newest offerings from Anthem and was designed to give you more control over your health care costs. Anthem says it offers "traditional health coverage benefits that can be paired with a Health Savings Account for more flexibility and potential tax advantages." The features include complete coverage for preventive care before the deductible. Lumenos takes advantage of the PPO network offered in other Anthem plans to obtain savings for the customer. The plan does carry a high deductible of at least $1500 for an individual plus coinsurance options of 50%, 20% or 0%. Money that you place into your HSA is supposed to cover those out of pocket expenses.

Anthem says the Lumenos plan works with or without setting up a health savings account. U.S. law says only people with high deductible health plans can open a HSA which will earn interest, investment options include a number of mutual funds. In Kentucky, Anthem also offers other options for insurance coverage including their Premier plan and SmartSense plan. The Premier plan offers the highest level of benefits but also carries the highest monthly premiums.

Humana also offers a variety of health insurance plans in Kentucky. All of the plans require members to obtain health care from providers within their large network across the Bluegrass to achieve the best savings. Humana's top plan is the Portrait which is very similar to the type of coverage provided by most large employers. Deductibles range from $1000 for an individual up to $5000 for families. The plan covers 80% of most in network services and requires you to pay the remaining 20% however office visits in network are covered at 100% of the cost.

Tracy McManamon is the owner of one of the most popular sites for Kentucky Health Plans. Get a Kentucky Health Plans today!