High deductible or traditional insurance

JoniB
JoniB Member Posts: 346
edited November 2016 in Employment, Insurance, and Other Financial Issues

It's open enrollment time and I ha e to choose this year's health insurance. I've selected the high deductible plan the last two years and it's worked out well for me even with my cancer treatment this year. I contribute the max to the HSA. This year the premium has increased on both as has the deductibles and out of pocket max. The tool the company provided this help determine which plan is best tells me I should go traditional this year. Anyone else have experience with a high deductible plan and cancer treatment? Which plan would you choose?

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited November 2016

    JoniB - While it ws pre-ACA, at the time of diagnosis, I had the only insurance I could get which was - a low payment but$5000 ded/$11000 OOP plan which ended up in 9 months actually costing me close to $30,000. Post- ACA, having a higher payment but $2000 ded/oop max was a life-saver financially. I think you have to assume with cancer that you will reach the max every year; so, you would need to weigh whether you can afford that. For me, I would never go back to a high ded/high oop plan again if there was any way that I could avoid it.

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  • peggy_j
    peggy_j Member Posts: 1,700
    edited November 2016

    I'm not in your situation but I'm buying my own insurance and it's been more tricky to compare plans than I expected (an "apples vs. orange" comparison). I'm curious to know what that tool is using for input. My health is stable today, but in the 5 years since my Dx, I only had one year without an unexpected health issue or two. (Issues came up and I choose elective surgery in two of those years; this year I had a couple "minor" things, but one was an out-of-the-blue thyroid issue that's caused me to see the doc 5 times (so far) including blood tests each time, etc. Part of it depends on your attitude. I tend to see insurance as covering the worst-case scenario. Also, I'm in the camp of "better safe than sorry" and "hope for the best but plan for the worst." Not sure if any of this is helpful but FYI.

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