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How are the Healthy Savings, Custom Network, and PPO plans different?

The Healthy Savings Plan is an IRS-qualified high-deductible health care plan that offers a lower premium with a higher deductible. You pay the full cost of medical services and prescription drugs until you reach your annual deductible. The deductible combines medical services and prescription drug expenses, rather than having one deductible for each. Similarly, the out-of-pocket limit combines medical and prescription expenses.

Because it is qualified by the IRS, unless you are enrolled in any part of Medicare, claimed on another’s taxes and/or you or your spouse are enrolled in a general-purpose Health Care Flexible Spending Account, the HSP can be paired with a Health Savings Account (HSA) to offset your higher deductible. Plus, if you are an active faculty or staff member, the university contributes to your HSA to help pay the higher deductible and eligible out-of-pocket medical, dental and vision expenses. You may choose to contribute to your HSA, too, up to the IRS maximums, but you do not have to do so to earn the university contribution. Retirees do not enroll in an HSA through the university. Any retiree who meets the eligibility criteria may enroll in an individual HSA. Since your HSA will not be a university-sponsored group HSA, you will be responsible for any fees associated with the account. For both active employees and retirees, the HSA is owned and managed by the employee/retiree, and funds remain in the account from year to year if not used for eligible expenses. Visit umurl.us/HSA for more information.

The Custom Network Planfeatures a focused, narrow network of providers. The Columbia CNP network consists primarily of providers affiliated with University of Missouri Health Care. The St. Louis CNP network consists primarily of providers affiliated with Mercy Health System. In both plans, there’s no deductible for in-network services, but there is a small deductible for prescription medication. You may enroll in two types of Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA): Health Care FSA and Dependent Care FSA. These accounts help you pay for medical or child care using pre-tax dollars; eligible expenses differ between the types.

The PPO Plan Plan is a traditionally structured medical insurance plan with a broad network of providers. You pay deductibles for medical expenses and prescription drugs even if you use in-network services. There are separate deductibles for in-network services and retail prescription drugs. Premiums are high, but the deductible is mid-range for health plans. You may enroll in two types of Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA): Health Care FSA and Dependent Care FSA. These accounts help you pay for medical or child care using pre-tax dollars; eligible expenses differ between the types.

Reviewed 2019-10-17