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Comment by ben_w | Hacker News Reader

$300 [1] is more than I’ve spent on (non-dental) helthcare, in total, over my entire life. That includes one count of general anaesthetic and emergency surgery because of testicular torsion which happened while I wasn’t registered with any local doctor, one burned arm, one being knocked unconscious by a trampoline, and one being hit by a car.

[1] “after premiums” is roughly the same as “after taxes”, right?

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You probably don't live in the US, right?

In the US, I've already payed thousands in after-premium medical expenses for my very healthy young children, just in copays and ER visit fees for normal accidents that kids get into, and that after having what in the US is considered amazing health insurance, so I'm a very lucky person.

I had to go to the ER in the UK as a tourist recently. They refused to take payment since I wasn't admitted to the hospital.

> [1] “after premiums” is roughly the same as “after taxes”, right?

For the purposes of comparison between the US and other OECD countries, yes.

I left the US recently with a few thousand in an HSA (a pre-tax account designated for healthcare expenses). I have no idea how I'm going to get that out of there now.

You can keep it there and withdraw it after 65 penalty free (have to pay taxes like a traditional IRA) or you can pull it out now and pay taxes plus a 10% penalty.

Probably better to withdraw and eat the penalty then, inflation will make it worth peanuts by the time I'm 65.

If it's over a certain amount you can treat it like an IRA, otherwise you should get regular savings account interest, yeah.. I'm laughing too.

Fidelity has an HSA with zero fees that lets you invest just like an IRA. I don’t know if you can open one without being a US resident, however.

You can invest it in US or international mutual funds that historically have beaten inflation by 7%.

you can just withdraw it. Their website should have a way to do a bank transfer or write you a check. You will owe taxes, but if you're never coming back to the US, then whatever. If you're coming back, then you can generally invest your HSA in a mutual fund(most have some limited investment options accessible via their website) and then your HSA basically turns into an IRA retirement fund at age 65.

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