Lasso Healthcare MSA Review

As Medicare Advantage plans gain popularity, so too has the Medical Savings Account (MSA), a type of Medicare Advantage offering. With an MSA, a private health insurance company deposits money – typically a few thousand dollars – into your special savings account. You can use that money for any qualified medical expenses that come up throughout the year.

In previous years, the MSA was only available in a few counties, so most seniors in the United States couldn’t have one even if they wanted it. However, Lasso Healthcare, a relatively new health insurance carrier, has expanded the reach of the MSA across 1,771 counties in the United States.

Millions of Medicare-eligible seniors now have the option to choose an MSA, but the real question is: should I?

We’ve had a lot of close experience with the Lasso Healthcare MSA, so we’re bringing you a full Lasso Healthcare MSA review.

Sign up for our monthly email newsletter

Lasso Healthcare MSA Plan Availability Review

Lasso Healthcare gets a 10 out of 10 from us for plan availability. They have the widest footprint in the country of any MSA insurer, serving 26 states and the District of Columbia in 2020.

If you live in any of the following states, you should strongly consider the Lasso Healthcare MSA:

• Arizona
• Arkansas
• Delaware
• District of Columbia
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Montana
• New Mexico
• Nevada
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Texas
• Utah
• Wyoming

What’s even more exciting than the wide footprint is how many rural areas have access to the MSA. If you live in a small city or town, you probably don’t have many (or any) Medicare Advantage plan options.

The Lasso Healthcare MSA has opened up the possibilities for millions of Americans living in rural areas. Finally, a great Medicare Advantage option that comes with incredible features like $0 premium, no networks, and an annual deposit!

Review of the MSA Plan Structure

The way an MSA is structured is set in stone by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). An MSA must follow these basic guidelines:

• $0 premium
• Deposit is given to the member annually – Lasso Healthcare's 2020 deposit is $3,240
• High deductible – Lasso Healthcare's deductibles range between $7,400-$9,400 in 2020 (varies by county)
• 100% coverage for Medicare A/B services after you reach your deductible
• No provider networks – you can see any doctor that accepts Medicare assignment
• No drug coverage included – freedom to choose any Medicare Part D drug plan

No matter what, these are the basics you can expect year-in and year-out from an MSA. The problem with many Medicare Advantage plans is that they change drastically year after year.

For example, you may have $0 premium this year, and next year, your premium goes up to $30 per month. With an MSA, the $0 premium feature is a key part of the plan that cannot and will not change. The stability of the MSA plan structure is certainly attractive!

In addition, no other plan in the Medicare space gives money to the member to use for qualified medical expenses. That opens up some serious potential, especially if you have great health years and don’t use all of the money.

Any money leftover in your MSA at the end of the year is yours to keep or even invest.

Steve Spinner, a Medicare Advantage and MSA expert explains, “If people can get a number of good years with a Lasso product, the funds never leave us. It just puts people in a stronger financial position.”

Who Should Choose the Lasso Healthcare MSA?

When you look at the data over the past three years, an overwhelming amount of seniors would have been better off financially with the MSA than any other option in the Medicare space.

Here are a few groups of individuals that are a perfect fit the Lasso Healthcare MSA:

• Turning 65 (brand new to Medicare)
• Dealing with expensive Medicare Supplement premiums and unable to switch companies due to poor health
• Healthy, no major medical problems, in great shape
• Those with a Health Savings Account (HSA)
• Those who get stipends or reimbursements from their employers

Overall, the turning 65 crowd stands out to us the most, because there’s so much potential for growth over time.

Spinner explains that in most cases, a healthy, 65-year-old individual that buys a Medicare Supplement is probably going to spend more in premium than they would have on claims.

When you’re young, there’s a much better chance that you’ll have years of great health. That’s prime time to accumulate dollars in your MSA!

“When you start to project this forward, it puts you in a stronger position to offset medical costs. You do not want to give away the time-value of that dollar as well as that contribution plus the $0 premium when you're 65,” Spinner says.

Lasso Healthcare MSA Customer Service Review

Here at Medicare Allies, we treasure it when an insurance company has stellar customer service. It makes it a lot easier to get what we need in order to better serve you, our clients.

We’re so pleased with Lasso Healthcare’s service team that we couldn’t leave this out! Every time you call into their Customer Service number, you’re greeted by a friendly voice. That’s all too rare these days, especially with some of the larger Medicare insurers out there.

A true testament to Lasso Healthcare’s customer service is that the President, Jim Handlan, is even willing to jump in and get involved if there’s a serious concern or issue. For example, we had a client whose doctor refused to accept Lasso Healthcare, but by law, they were required to. It ended up being a simple misunderstanding, but Handlan jumped in and ironed everything out.

That blew us away! Again, we give a 10 out of 10 to the Lasso Healthcare MSA customer service team.

Final Thoughts on the Lasso Healthcare MSA

We’ve been in the senior market insurance space for almost four decades, and this product is one of the most promising – and exciting – offerings we’ve ever come across.

It’s rare that the senior consumer is put first, but with the Lasso Healthcare MSA, you truly are. No other Medicare Advantage plan type is giving its members money to use for qualified medical expenses. With other Medicare Advantage plans and Medicare Supplements, your premiums are gone if you don’t end up using any medical services.

The opportunity to have money left over at the end of the year is very unique in the senior market. Plus, the fact that you can even invest those funds and start earning interest on them is even more appealing.

If you have a number of healthy years, you can pile up some funds to offset future health risks. On the other hand, if you don’t end up using the funds, you have money to pass on to your beneficiaries when you die.

Here are our final thoughts on the Lasso Healthcare MSA:

• Lasso Healthcare MSA Plan Availability: 10/10

While it’d be great if it was available in all 50 states, the Lasso Healthcare MSA has the widest footprint of any MSA by far with more states being added every year it’s on the market. With an emphasis on expanding Medicare Advantage options to rural communities, we’d be remiss to not give Lasso Healthcare a 10 out of 10!

• Lasso Healthcare MSA Plan Structure and Benefits: 10/10

There are so many pros to the Lasso Healthcare MSA, including $0 premium, an annual deposit, and no provider networks, which is a huge deal! While it’d be great if the deductible was lower, there’s always going to be some give and take with health insurance. We feel the trade-off of an annual deposit – and $0 premium! – is worth the member responsibility and potential financial risk. We give a 10/10!

• Lasso Healthcare MSA Customer Service: 10/10

With an enthusiastic team and leadership that’s willing to go to bat for its members, we’re thrilled to give Lasso Healthcare a 10/10 for its customer service.

We really don’t have anything negative to say about the Lasso Healthcare MSA – it’s opening up opportunities for our clients that were never possible before. If you have any interest in considering the Lasso Healthcare MSA for yourself, we’d be glad to go over it with you. Give us a call at 833-801-7999 today!