Hello all...feedback welcome, on whether I'm missing anything. With last months huge premium increase, I'm now paying about $530/month for an indiv. BCBS policy (I'm in my 50's) . It's now time to think about raising the $500 deductible to $2500, which would lower the premium to about $380 (a difference of about $1800/yr). But when you change deductibles, your OOP max. also changes....it would go
from $2500 to $5000. But that's the only thing that changes. They're both "20%" copay plans, in that after the deductible is met, i pay 20% of the bill. The lifetime max. is still "unlimited", which I like about this particular series of indiv. BCBS plans (as opposed to the "saver" series that my company offers....which has a $3 million lifetime max). So, I developed a spreadsheet showing how much I would pay OOP for about 10 different hypothetical medical bills.
It really seems to make sense now to change to the $2500
deductible. (I should add here that bcbs does allow one to change to a higher deductible once per year, but not to a lower deductible, unless one wants to go thru underwriting).
So, for example, with a $5000 medical bill, I'd pay $1400
with the $500 ded. policy, but i'd pay $3000 with the
$2500 deductible policy.
With a $15000 med bill, I'd pay $3400 with the $500 ded. policy, but $5000 with the $2500 ded. policy.
So given the difference in premiums (about $1800 per year)
between the 2 ded. policies, it makes sense to move to the higher ded. policy. Last year (before this huge increase), there wasn't really that much of a difference in premium prices between the 2 policies.
The only thing holding me back is the (naive and ignorant??) idea that when the new health bill passes, there's a good chance people like me, in a low tax bracket, will get a tax break or get subsidizied...resulting in lower premiums. If that happens, I may be wishing I had the original 500 deductible policy (and it would be too late to get that back?). Then again, with the new health bill,
supposedly I will be able to move to other health plans with no underwriting (either within my current ins. company or to other companies), so that may not be anything to worry about.
One other thing....the difference in premiums for the 2 policies is CURRENTLY what I stated above, but who knows what it will be next year...maybe not much different?
Thanks for noting whether i'm missing anything.
p.s. My own "health status" is irrelevant. Although it's generally pretty good, there's no way to project/predict what it will be in the future (or what accidents i will "participate" in). .
from $2500 to $5000. But that's the only thing that changes. They're both "20%" copay plans, in that after the deductible is met, i pay 20% of the bill. The lifetime max. is still "unlimited", which I like about this particular series of indiv. BCBS plans (as opposed to the "saver" series that my company offers....which has a $3 million lifetime max). So, I developed a spreadsheet showing how much I would pay OOP for about 10 different hypothetical medical bills.
It really seems to make sense now to change to the $2500
deductible. (I should add here that bcbs does allow one to change to a higher deductible once per year, but not to a lower deductible, unless one wants to go thru underwriting).
So, for example, with a $5000 medical bill, I'd pay $1400
with the $500 ded. policy, but i'd pay $3000 with the
$2500 deductible policy.
With a $15000 med bill, I'd pay $3400 with the $500 ded. policy, but $5000 with the $2500 ded. policy.
So given the difference in premiums (about $1800 per year)
between the 2 ded. policies, it makes sense to move to the higher ded. policy. Last year (before this huge increase), there wasn't really that much of a difference in premium prices between the 2 policies.
The only thing holding me back is the (naive and ignorant??) idea that when the new health bill passes, there's a good chance people like me, in a low tax bracket, will get a tax break or get subsidizied...resulting in lower premiums. If that happens, I may be wishing I had the original 500 deductible policy (and it would be too late to get that back?). Then again, with the new health bill,
supposedly I will be able to move to other health plans with no underwriting (either within my current ins. company or to other companies), so that may not be anything to worry about.
One other thing....the difference in premiums for the 2 policies is CURRENTLY what I stated above, but who knows what it will be next year...maybe not much different?
Thanks for noting whether i'm missing anything.
p.s. My own "health status" is irrelevant. Although it's generally pretty good, there's no way to project/predict what it will be in the future (or what accidents i will "participate" in). .