[armada651]

> One health problem has me hitting 75% of my full-price, high deductible... and this doesn’t even include my much more intensive second surgery yet.

I'm confused, don't you want to reach your deductible as soon as possible? Isn't that when your insurance actually starts paying out?

[overgard]

Well, if your deductible is like $8000 or something (high deductible), you kind of want to avoid hitting that if possible, because you're out $8000

[teeray]

Don't forget the extra-fun deductible reset button that insurance companies get to hit every year. If your timing is particularly unlucky, you can end up paying that deductible twice (or nearly twice) for some health event.

[xboxnolifes]

If you have hundreds of thousands in medical bills at once, sure. That's good bang for your buck. If you've been paying monthly for medical insurance, get a tear in your eye that needs surgery, and now how to pay fully out of pocket for that surgery because it still isn't expensive enough for insurance to step in, that's a lot of money.

Of course, the post has no numbers, so it's impossible to judge the quality of the insurance plan. And the deductible isn't exactly a surprise, you know it when you get the plan, so paying this much when you have an emergency shouldn't be a surprise either. It still sucks if you can't afford better.

[memcg]

Doesn't a high deductible policy have lower monthly premium? Couldn't you have paid more for a policy with a lower deductible? The author chose the lower premiums and self insured (bet) they would not need to use it enough to meet the high deductible.

[vunderba]

Sure but its a good news bad news kind of thing. Yay I hit my deductible I only need to shell out the co-pay!

Translation:

1. I spent the absolute maximum amount of money which can be substantial if you're on a high deductible plan

2. I had a very unhealthy year