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I know how much the American health care system sucks. But I have looked into a high deductible health care plan on the exchange for myself and my wife - both
by raw_anon_1111 7mo ago
I know how much the American health care system sucks. But I have looked into a high deductible health care plan on the exchange for myself and my wife - both over 50 to calculate how much we would need to survive a month of unemployment. It was around $1000/mo with no subsidies for a bronze plan.
- ceejayoz 7mo agoThis is a family plan; the bronze plans are $2400 or so a month. But that means a huge deductible; for a high-needs family, it works out worse financially.
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoWhen I compared plans at work over the years, I’ve found that it is rarely cheaper to do low deductible/higher monthly costs than higher deductible /lower monthly cost + pay deductible out of pocket.
- ceejayoz 7mo agoThat will vary from person to person. In our case, we tend to hit the max out-of-pocket pretty fast.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoIs that still cheaper than high deductible + HSA contribution to cover the deductible?
- ceejayoz 7mo agoYes. Substantially so, in my case. Likely not for many, but I definitely did all this math annually.
- bdangubic 7mo agoBoth my wife and I have been contractors for decade+ and have been with Kaiser and are paying $1.1k/month for Bronze-ish plan (1 child)
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoHow does that work if you have a pre-existing condition? I am honestly curious
- deleted 7mo ago[deleted]
- bix6 7mo agoYou think regular Americans have the money to afford high deductible plans? One ER visit bankrupts people.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoHigh deductible plans max out at around $10K deductible. But it’s the same cost in my experience low deductible vs high deductible + HSA contribution. The difference being that if you don’t need to use your HSA in a year you keep it - unlike low deductible plans.
- bix6 7mo agoAh yes because the family making $40k/year can afford $10k in medical expenses.
- raw_anon_1111 7mo agoIn my experience the cost of a low deductible health plan is more expensive than a high deductible health plan + equivalent amount of a pre tax HSA. I have never known a health care provider that you can’t negotiate a payment plan with. Even if your HSA isn’t funded, they could probably have a payment plan = HSA monthly contribution and then take it out of the HSA. Yes I understand that a lot of people making $40K would be deftly afraid of doing that. But they would still statistically come out ahead
- jmye 7mo agoA family making 40k a year qualifies for significant benefits and subsidies, even today. But don't let not knowing what you're talking about stop you from angrily talking about it.