Another help me choose a health plan question.....

[AmandaVT]

The replies on the other thread this morning were helpful, so I'm diving in with my own quandry. 

 

Premiums are going up along with deductibles and max OOP across the board. For this year, I chose a silver plan for us, betting that we wouldn't have any major medical issues for the 9 months that we needed a plan (DH left his job in March). I am looking to see if our company can get a company plan and we pay our premiums pre-tax, but I'm not sure if I can make that happen yet. 

 

We do not qualify for any subsidies, so we have to pay full price. We're generally pretty healthy people. DH usually ends up at the Dr a few times a year and Urgent care once for his annual bronchitis chest xray that always seems to be necessary on a weekend.....DS hasn't needed a sick visit in 6 years (don't want to jinx that!) and I usually need 1-2 random Dr's visits. 

 

We do not currently have almost $15,000 to set aside in a savings account to pay for any health emergencies. All of the plans are ridiculously expensive IMO, but I could probably scrimp and put less into savings and pay for any of them if needed. 

 

What I like about our current plan (Silver Blue Rewards) -

 

we can share up to 9 office visits between family members before the deductible kicks in. 

 

The premium is one of the lower ones

 

What I don't like - 

 

What if DS breaks something, or one of us ends up very ill and needing hospitalization or something. We'd be making payments to the Dr/Hospital for a long time and that feels scary because our OOP max will be close to $15,000.

 

 

Anyone have any thoughts/been in a similar situation? 

 

http://www.bcbsvt.com/wps/wcm/connect/312bad12-e87b-4ec3-a913-37af8ef3b503/2017-bcbsvt-qhps-quick-compare-group.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

[J-rap]

I think I'd be okay doing something like this if it were more of a temporary, filler plan.  (My ds had a plan like this when he was too old to be on ours but didn't yet have an employee health plan.)  But other than that, especially if you are a family and not just a young single adult, I think I'd be a little uncomfortable with it.

[AmandaVT]

I hate the thought of gambling about our health. It worked out fine this year. The silver plan ended up costing us $13,500 over 9 months (including dental) and we spent just over $500 towards our deductible. So $14,000 over 9 months in total out of pocket costs for us. If we have a similar year next year, we'll be paying about $21,000 out of pocket (12 months vs. 9 and a higher premium for the same plan). If we spring for the good plan, it'll be about $26,000 for the year, but we won't have to fret about spending a lot outside of the premiums because it has a $500 deductible. Ack.