[raw_anon_1111]

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.

[bix6]

You think regular Americans have the money to afford high deductible plans? One ER visit bankrupts people.

[raw_anon_1111]

High 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]

Ah yes because the family making $40k/year can afford $10k in medical expenses.

[raw_anon_1111]

In 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]

A 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.

[ceejayoz]

This 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.

[raw_anon_1111]

When 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]

That will vary from person to person.

In our case, we tend to hit the max out-of-pocket pretty fast.

[raw_anon_1111]

Is that still cheaper than high deductible + HSA contribution to cover the deductible?

[ceejayoz]

Yes. Substantially so, in my case.

Likely not for many, but I definitely did all this math annually.

[bdangubic]

Both 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]

How does that work if you have a pre-existing condition? I am honestly curious

[ceejayoz]

ACA-compliant plans can't deny or change pricing for them.

It was a good change, but it needed the individual mandate to function successfully. That got removed.

[bdangubic]

ACA put a stop to that