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1. Buy expensive health insurance to cover medical bills 2. Never use it because even though you have no idea what you're going to be charged, you know it is g

by dfxm12 5y ago

1. Buy expensive health insurance to cover medical bills 2. Never use it because even though you have no idea what you're going to be charged, you know it is going to be outrageous, even though you have insurance to cover medical bills What a racket...

Spivak 5y ago
The only sane play in the US is 1. Buy an inexpensive high deductible insurance plan to cover only emergency expenses. 1.1. Make sure that for your plan out-of-network expenses count toward your oopm. (1.2. Cry because your employer's health plan doesn't work for this.) 1.3. Have enough cash liquid to cover your oopm. 2. Max out your HSA contributions. 3. Pay cash for everything. Sans 1.2. this has been working reasonably well for me. You would be amazed at the discounts you get once you say you're paying cash. Medical expenses suddenly are downright reasonably priced. tl;dr Surprise! Everything is cheaper when you have money. Oh America.
- awinter-py 5y ago
  out of curiosity did you try to get your employer to cover your plan on a pretax basis? what happened?
- LinuxBender 5y ago
  You would be amazed at the discounts you get once you say you're paying cash. Anecdotally I found this to be true with prescriptions. I didn't even ask for one but as soon as I told the pharmacist I was paying cash he said, "Oh, let me apply the coupon for you." and gave me a 20% discount. It was already a cheap generic but I wasn't going to complain.
  - lazyninja987 5y ago
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  You can short circuit this by working remotely for a US company from another country with a functioning healthcare system. If done properly (LCOL, excess income is invested), you mitigate not only healthcare system expense issues, but also can get towards a position of financial independence to mitigate the usual delays in finding your next role. For example, to have a child's broken arm evaluated and casted in a Mexico capital city is less than $100, total. Annual cost of living for a family of four is $25k-30k/US.

by dfxm12 5y ago

Spivak 5y ago

The only sane play in the US is 1. Buy an inexpensive high deductible insurance plan to cover only emergency expenses. 1.1. Make sure that for your plan out-of-network expenses count toward your oopm. (1.2. Cry because your employer's health plan doesn't work for this.) 1.3. Have enough cash liquid to cover your oopm. 2. Max out your HSA contributions. 3. Pay cash for everything. Sans 1.2. this has been working reasonably well for me. You would be amazed at the discounts you get once you say you're paying cash. Medical expenses suddenly are downright reasonably priced. tl;dr Surprise! Everything is cheaper when you have money. Oh America.

awinter-py 5y ago
out of curiosity did you try to get your employer to cover your plan on a pretax basis? what happened?
LinuxBender 5y ago
You would be amazed at the discounts you get once you say you're paying cash. Anecdotally I found this to be true with prescriptions. I didn't even ask for one but as soon as I told the pharmacist I was paying cash he said, "Oh, let me apply the coupon for you." and gave me a 20% discount. It was already a cheap generic but I wasn't going to complain.
- lazyninja987 5y ago
toomuchtodo 5y ago
You can short circuit this by working remotely for a US company from another country with a functioning healthcare system. If done properly (LCOL, excess income is invested), you mitigate not only healthcare system expense issues, but also can get towards a position of financial independence to mitigate the usual delays in finding your next role. For example, to have a child's broken arm evaluated and casted in a Mexico capital city is less than $100, total. Annual cost of living for a family of four is $25k-30k/US.