As a single person, I have a plan with a high deductible. Sometimes though I worry that if I develop some sort of recurring problem I will have high insurance costs, and by then it will be too late. What are your thoughts? What are the parameters to consider for the deductible? I should say my health is normal for the time being, and there is no indication I will have a problem. So what do you think?
We are a family of five, and my husband is self-employed, so though our company pays our insurance, essentially, we pay for it, if that makes sense. Here's how I figured out what to get. I looked at the max out-of-pocket that I would have to pay per individual or for the entire family for a year, plus the deductible, and set that as my price point. I had a baby last year, so I figured on hitting my max out of pocket, and with that in mind, it was STILL CHEAPER to go with a high deductible and low premium health plan. At the end of the year, I would have paid more in my monthly premiums with a "better plan" than I did with all my premiums, hitting my max out of pocket, and hitting my deductible. If you are relatively healthy and still young, you are almost guaranteed to save money by going with low premiums, high deductible plans, BECAUSE of the max-out-of-pocket contingency. Another consideration is that with high hospital bills, you can often talk them down to reasonable payment plans and end up saving money in the end. And, of course, with Obamacare, who knows what will happen. It looks like my family is going to be eligible for free insurance (basically), which is crazy. I never thought I'd jump on a socialist bandwagon, as I'm from a pretty conservative background, but weirdly, for the first time in my life, I'm falling into that category of "poverty" that is going to be benefitted through all this. Oy.
If you are young and in good health you can get catastrophic insurance. This means basically that you don't have insurance with co-pays. So doctor appointments and general care are not covered. But if you get really sick, so save a heart attack or a stroke then the insurance kicks in. The cost is very low since the odds are real low that you will have a catastrophic occurrence. If you do this I would recommend getting the health insurance rider on your car insurance. That's about the only case you might end up with medical bills.
