Top o'the Week Linkfest

“The IRS has announced that it will restore the family deduction limit for HSA contributions to $6,900 for 2018.”

Hey, $50 is $50.

■ I’ve long had an issue with tying one’s credit score with one’s auto and home insurance (I know, whistling in the dark), but what can you do?

Well, the folks at The Zebra (seriously!) have “received a U.S. patent for their proprietary Insurability Score™ … a free, first-of-its-kind score which decodes for consumers what is affecting their individual insurance risk, by how much, and what they can do about it.”

Score one for the little guy.

■ Great news from FoIB Holly R:

“Israeli scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Soroka University Medical Center in Beersheba announced that they have developed a new non-invasive method to detect early breast cancer more accurately, using commercially available breath and urine tests.“

This seems significant, and potentially less expensive (and awkward) than current methods.

■ Over the years, we’ve blogged many times on so-called “Grandmothered” plans. I kinda liked that term, but it’s a little unwieldy and not necessarily all that descriptive. Well, the good news is that I just learned a new term which solves that problem: “Keep What You Have (KWYH)” plans. Same concept, better descriptor.

The bad news is that it’s about to become a moot point:

“After careful consideration, we will no longer offer Aetna and Coventry transitional relief plans (also known as Keep What You Have – KWYH – plans) after December 31, 2018. When we began offering KWYH plans four years ago, we did so understanding that these plans were to help ease the transition to Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans and not a permanent alternative.”

/sigh