# Should I get an HSA (Health Savings Account)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-an-hsa-health-savings-account/923700>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 23, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-an-hsa-health-savings-account/923700 "2020-10-23T18:07:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 13

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-i-get-an-hsa-health-savings-account/923700/13 "2020-10-24T15:16:43Z")

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> [@MrAtoz](#):
>
> What you describe sounds like the thing I am most worried about with an HSA–a big, unexpected medical expense very soon after establishing the account, before it’s had time to accumulate enough money to cover that expense.

You might want to look very closely at the rest of the details between both plans.

e.g. both an HDHP and a regular plan will have a deductible up to which they pay zero. Then they’ll have another number up to which they’ll pay e.g. 80% and you pay 20%. Then there’s finally a number called out-of-pocket maximum above which they pick up 100%.

Your true worst case exposure is the OOP max. For each of you. Plus some co-pays. And that’s true for both HDHP and non-HDHP plans. Compare _those_ numbers (net of premium savings and employer matching) to understand the worst case. Don’t just compare the deductibles.

For my employer, the deductibles are quite different while the OOP maxima are much closer than you’d expect.

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