February 26, 2019 • Page 2 shop online at www.missourivalleyshopper.com Dave Says Insurance and Savings By Dave Ramsey Dear Dave, Dear Dave, I just realized our insurance has a health savings account (HSA) option. We’ve considered dropping this insurance soon and going to a cheaper Christian medical sharing program. We’ve got about $19,000 in debt between credit cards and a car payment, and we’re on Baby Step 2 of your plan. Our thought was to fund the HSA for a period of time as a means of saving, cancel that policy, then go over to a medical sharing program we found that costs $600 a month less. After that, we would start paying down debt again. What do you think? Amy Dear Amy, There are two components to an HSA, the insurance component and the savings component. You don’t have to participate in the savings component. The insurance component is simply a large deductible, 100 percent coverage after the deductible, cheaper-premium Dave health insurance plan. If I were in Baby Step 2, I would not do the savings component. I would only do the insurance component, or I’d do the medical sharing program. I’m not sure why you’d need to jump back and forth it you’re going to permanently move to a medical sharing program. I get the idea of saving money, but what you’re talking about isn’t something I’d recommend for someone who’s in debt. I wouldn’t fund a savings account of several thousand dollars only for medical when you’re not even on Baby Step 3, which is saving Ramsey an emergency fund of three to six months of expenses. That money needs to be used to pay off debt first. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t fund the HSA portion of your current insurance plan. If you went with a medical sharing program, and just saved up a large emergency fund, the only thing you’d really lose out on is the tax deduction associated with an HSA. Good question! —Dave Miguel wasn’t the fastest kid in his class, but he could run. Fast enough for third-grade softball, you know. And fast enough to get a kite up in the air. It was recess and several other kids were flying kites today. Just enough breeze to keep one up. So Miguel went to the downwind end of the big playground and took off. He fed the string out quickly, and by the time he’d reached the monkey bars at the other end of the field, he discovered he’d been successful. The kite stayed up and swung with the breeze, and the tug on the string told him he had once again mastered flight. He fed out even more string until his kite was over the street, then even more until it flew over the houses across the street. Finally, he was down to the stick itself. It was all there, in his hands. Flight. I’ll bet if I had enough string I could sail this to the moon. He grinned and looked around at the other happy pilots, and then he saw Joey sitting over to one side in his wheelchair, and Joey was smiling, too. What fun, being a pilot … pretending this was your own jet fighter, waiting in the sky to do your bidding. Carefully, Miguel moved his command post over to Joey’s wheelchair and handed him the controls. The magic of flight is too special not to be shared. * Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business, and CEO of Ramsey Solutions. He has authored seven best-selling books, including The Total Money Makeover. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 12 million listeners each week on 575 radio stations and multiple digital platforms. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com. Vehicular Breakin By Daris Howard It had been a long day of work, and it was late and dark on a winter evening, when I left my office. When I got to my little pickup, I found it covered with snow and ice. I unlocked it and started it so it would warm up while I scraped the windows. I chipped away the snow and ice, then stepped back to the pickup door, only to find it locked. I realized that I was in a real predicament. My pickup was running, I had locked my keys, including my office keys inside, and my colleagues were all gone, so I couldn’t ask them for help. And this was before the days of cell phones, so I didn’t have anything with which to call home. I thought about walking around campus to try to find some place from which I could call my wife, but I knew there weren’t any public phones, and there was not likely anyone still at work. I also realized that if I did call my wife, she would have to come out on this dark, cold night and travel the twenty miles to come to my rescue. As I pondered my options, I saw the small back window into the cab and remembered that I had opened it the previous night. I check and happily found that it was still unlocked. I climbed into the back of the pickup and pushed the window open. It was less than a foot on each side, wider than it was high, but I thought I could reach through it and pull the keys from the ignition. I stuck my arm through, but the pickup was an extended cab, and my hand was nowhere near the keys. I pushed my head through with my arm, and still my reach was more than a foot from the keys. To have any chance of reaching them, I had to get through to at least my waist. I took off my coat and set it on the side of the truck, shivering in the below zero temperature. I then stuck both arms through the window, which left little room for my head. By laying my head flat between my arms, I was barely able to get it through into the pickup. By wiggling and squirming, I was able to get my shoulders through, but that was as far as I could go. I could not get my midsection through the Yankton interactive 6 Easy Steps To Bring Your Paper To Life! 1. Go to window. I was far enough in that the keys dangled at my fingertips, but I might as well have been a mile away. I could push in no further, and I knew trying was futile. It was time to give up on this plan. I started to back out, but then my clothes hooked on the edge of the window. I tried to tuck them around me, but it was to no avail. No matter how I tried, I could not get out of the window. The cab was overly warm, and my top half was sweating even as my lower half was freezing. I struggled for around fifteen minutes to no avail, and I thought I was going to be stuck there until one of my colleagues found me the next morning. I thought it couldn’t get any worse. At least that’s what I thought until I saw the blue and red flashing lights pull up behind me. A flashlight suddenly blinded me through the window. “All right,” a voice commanded, “come out with your hands up!” “If I could come out, don’t you think I would have already?” I asked. Another flashlight shown in from the other side. Then a smart-alecky voice spoke in a horrible English accent. “Holmes, I do say. I think he’s stuck.” I almost said, “Great deduction, genius,” but I refrained. Eventually, they used a flat piece of metal to unlock the door. With one on the inside and one on the outside, they helped me get free. But then came the questions. They had received a report of someone trying to steal a pickup. What was I doing trying to break into it? I told my story, and the fact it was locked and running was evidence in my favor. Eventually, they let me get the pickup registration and show them my I.D. Just before they left, one officer said, “You should realize you’re too. . .” He paused, then continued, “uh, big, to get through that window.” “Go ahead and say, it,” I said. “The word is fat.” He struggled to keep a straight face. “I didn’t say that.” Then he and his partner laughed as they headed to their patrol car. He didn’t have to say it. I already knew. Looking for the best deal in town? 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