A Health Savings Account (HSA) does not really cover alternative medicine. However, there is a bit more to it.

A person using an HSA can withdraw money from this special type of savings account for any type of “approved medical expense.” Approved by whom? The IRS.

So, the IRS pretty much thinks that proper medical expenses are any types of Western medicine – pharmaceutical drugs, surgery, doctor visits, etc.

However, there are a few things on the list that are alternative medical options. Chiropractors are on the list. So is acupuncture.

With acupuncture, it must be considered “medically necessary.” That means that a doctor (MD or DO) must say that he thinks you should see an acupuncturist and write a prescription for it. Then you can see an acupuncturist and pay for it with the money from your HSA.

But there’s one more thing. When you are using an HSA in conjunction with a high-deductible health insurance policy, you start seeing the “real costs” of everything you do, up until you hit that “high deductible” each year.

When you start seeing the real costs of Western medicine, at that point, alternative medicine might start to look really good.

Consider the following:

A routine doctor visit done before you meet your deductible may cost you about $100. That is one hundred dollars for about a seven-minute visit. (HMOs like doctors to have short visits with their patients.)

Now think about an alternative medical provider. Let’s take a naturopath as an example. A naturopath may charge about $90 for your first visit. That visit will probably take about an hour and a half.

Let’s look at the cost in dollars-per-minute:

The doctor visit costs $14.28 per minute.

The naturopath visit costs $1.00 per minute.

You might think a doctor is better qualified to understand your health problems, but do you think they are 14 times better qualified?

Health Savings Accounts will cause all of us to evaluate our options. We’ll look at all the aspects of Western medicine and alternative medicine (or integrative medicine) and we’ll choose the ones that make the most sense.

Health Savings Accounts will change how we think of health insurance. They are a wonderful tool that almost every American can and should benefit from. And they’re available today!

By: Daryl Kulak

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You will definitely want your kids to grow up as healthy human beings like most other parents would want. To be able to achieve this, they must follow an exercise regimen that will make them healthy and strong. Kids are naturally energetic and a little bit of healthy exercise will help them remain fit. The best form of workout is aerobics. It helps to make the heart muscles strong, thereby increasing oxygen circulation in blood. It also imparts flexibility to the body and makes muscles strong.

Playing basketball, swimming, jogging, skating, biking and rowing are some of the sports activities that can keep your kids healthy. Skipping, jumping Jack, hopscotch are some great exercises to make strong bones and muscles. Others include push ups, tug of war, pull ups, inline skating and running. All these exercises will help in making your kids healthy.

Flexibility is another important reason for which children need to do workouts. Kids are normally flexible and they are adept in moving their bodies. However, doing some exercises will help them maintain that flexibility through their age. Just visualize how nice it will be to touch your toes without any discomfort. Hence, stretching exercises are equally important for children. Some of them include, tumbling, martial arts, gymnastics, yoga, simple stretches such as backward bending and sideways bending.

Doing exercises is fun and more so because exercises release endorphins from our brain cells, which gives us a “feel good” sensation. Hence, exercise not only makes our body strong and healthy, but also elevates our mood and makes us happy.

Your kids must go through a proper warm up schedule before starting to exercise. Doing this regularly for 40 minutes will help your kids to become healthy. Normally, they are more interested in group activities, hence that can also be encouraged. As has been said earlier, exercise not only helps the body, but also the mind. Thus, remember to make your kids indulge in regular exercise and see them growing up into fit and confident human beings.

By: Bernard H Y

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