Hi JC,
My husband runs a health/life insurance company so I know how this works......( It was confusing for me when we first got on it also 3 years ago)
First, if anyone in your family has a lot of health issues I DON'T recommend it...
When we first got onto our HSA (with Humana) we were paying about 180.00 for the 3 of us with a 7k deductible for a total family payout....
Example: If you bring your child to the pediatrician, with a normal group plan you would probably pay about 20 copay, with a HSA you pay the repriced amount.. (example: we pay 44.00 for my son's pediatrician visits, not that big of a difference from 20 to 44).....All children's wellness visits are FREE....
We WERE paying almost 750 for the 3 of us with Aetna.. My husband didn't want to keep paying that because we didn't have any health issues BUT YET we would still HAVE to pay the 750 per month...
After you meet your deductible it is 100% covered.. We never meet our deductible though....
BUTTTTTT I started having dizzy/numbness/tingling issues so I've had to go for MRI's, CT scans and now neurologist ... That's where the HSA's can get expensive (that's why I say if you have a healthy family, HSA's are great) but now that I'm having health issues, we are paying.....
EXAMPLE: I went to the MRI center and got a brain and neck MRI , it was about 1800 BEFORE the repriced amount... I got a bill for 600.... So I did save 1200 but still owe 600 (which in that case I always just call the doctors office to set up payment arrangements and there always fine with that).....
How my husband looks at it: Why pay 750 EVERY SINGLE MONTH whether we go to the doctors or not when we can pay 180 per month and when we have to go to the doctors, yes we will pay more than the average copay, but it's better than paying 750 every single month and not even using it some, if not, most months....
PS It's the same with prescriptions with meeting your one time deductible.... And until you meet the deductible the meds are repriced....
You can get either a yearly pap or mammogram once per year for free....
HSA are considered PPO's (95% of the time) so you DON'T need referrals to go to specialists...
Any other questions, you can privately email me
Good luck!