Medical Savings Accounts...

... are the creation of Satan...

There are Medical Savings Accounts I believe that really ARE savings accounts, where money can carry over from year to year.

Alas, mine is not one of these. You have to guess by January 1st how much your out-of-pocket medical expenses are going to be. Guess too much and you lose the excess. Guess too little and you lost the benefit of paying untaxed income for health care.

So far I have learned that I am a horrible guesser. I should back up, and say that I am new to the game of health insurance and medical bills, having been sheltered for nearly 24 years in the Army, and not surprisingly, given what I do, being stationed near major medical facilities that met all of our health care needs. So I have no sense of what things cost.

Year 1, 2004, I signed up for the max of $5400. Lost about $4200 of that.

Year 2, 2005, I signed up for $1300. Spent about $3600 in out-of-pocket expenses and so paid about $700 in taxes unnecessarily.

Year 3, 2006, I signed up for $2600. I just got through turning in all my receipts and stuff for about $1900 worth of expenses. So, another $700 down the drain.

This year, I'm signed up for $1300 again. We'll see.