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The trouble with the "oh st I have cancer" insurance that only costs $100/mo with $5000 deductible is that it is for 6 mo at a time and then you get another pol

The trouble with the "oh st I have cancer" insurance that only costs $100/mo with $5000 deductible is that it is for 6 mo at a time and then you get another policy for another 6 mo. When you try to collect on anything big, they recind the insurance retroactively (for some reason) or say it is a pre-existing condition. BTDT. Examples: http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Health/story?id=7911195&page=1 http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Health/story?id=7911195&p... http://law.freeadvice.com/insurance_law/insurers_bad_faith/fortis-assurant-health-insurance-bad-faith.htm http://law.freeadvice.com/insurance_law/insurers_bad_faith/f...

tptacek 16y ago
This is a tricky point. I don't think you're always right. There are two different factors† you're bringing up: high vs. low deductable insurance and short-term health insurance. High- vs. low- deductable isn't a charged issue. Only slightly oversimplified: For high-deductable plans, you end up paying for doctor visits and basic meds out of pocket; for low-deductable insurance, you're basically paying a higher monthly fee to treat your medical care like a utility bill, and paying only copays for services. Most people have low-deductable plans (most company plans are low-deductable). Especially if you're young, low-deductable plans are kind of a rip-off. You can cut your payments in half with a high-deductable plan and use the difference to fund an HSA and thus not pay a huge premium for a health insurer to manage your money for you. Short-term health insurance on the other hand is a bad idea. The reason you pay insurance is to manage the risk that something terrible will happen. Of the major medical events that can bankrupt you (in other words, "of the major medical events"), most can easily take several months to resolve. Not only does this expose you to huge fees when your insurance lapses and you (obviously) don't get re-insured, but you can also be assured of never getting private insurance again. Don't buy short-term health insurance. † Recission is an unrelated issue that affects all health insurance plans; no matter who you buy insurance from, if they can claim there was something you could have disclosed to them but didn't that would have allowed them to predict a medical event and no law prevents them from doing so, they will attempt to withdraw coverage.

tptacek 16y ago

This is a tricky point. I don't think you're always right. There are two different factors† you're bringing up: high vs. low deductable insurance and short-term health insurance. High- vs. low- deductable isn't a charged issue. Only slightly oversimplified: For high-deductable plans, you end up paying for doctor visits and basic meds out of pocket; for low-deductable insurance, you're basically paying a higher monthly fee to treat your medical care like a utility bill, and paying only copays for services. Most people have low-deductable plans (most company plans are low-deductable). Especially if you're young, low-deductable plans are kind of a rip-off. You can cut your payments in half with a high-deductable plan and use the difference to fund an HSA and thus not pay a huge premium for a health insurer to manage your money for you. Short-term health insurance on the other hand is a bad idea. The reason you pay insurance is to manage the risk that something terrible will happen. Of the major medical events that can bankrupt you (in other words, "of the major medical events"), most can easily take several months to resolve. Not only does this expose you to huge fees when your insurance lapses and you (obviously) don't get re-insured, but you can also be assured of never getting private insurance again. Don't buy short-term health insurance. † Recission is an unrelated issue that affects all health insurance plans; no matter who you buy insurance from, if they can claim there was something you could have disclosed to them but didn't that would have allowed them to predict a medical event and no law prevents them from doing so, they will attempt to withdraw coverage.