Health Insurance Plans:

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

These are great ideas I think. My wife's company went to something somewhat similar. They went to a high deductible plan which cut their premiums in half. The deductible went to $2000 but the kicker is that her company then provides her a benefit card that pays for the first $1300. So if she doesn't go much to the doctor then we never pay a dime out of pocket outside of the much lower premiums and her company saves money by paying lower premiums on their side plus a little bit of the deductible. If she ends up with a long hospital stay then the $700+premiums we end up covering basically breaks even with the amount of the old premiums.


It doesn't have any savings to it but the concept is the same. When people go to the doctor less then everyone, including her company, saves money and the 1300 deductible coverage takes most of the "bad" motivation away from employees.

"Bad" = never going to the doctor, just to save money, and then getting really sick and costing more in the long run.

These are good plans because they put a financial incentive in the hands of the patient. Some people run off to the doctor to get antibiotics for every sinus infection that comes along. They figure hey, my copay is only $15, it's worth it. Meanwhile the insurance company is reimbursing the physician $125 every time, and paying for antibiotics each time. But with these plans, the patient has to think about whether it's worth it. Maybe that sinus infection isn't worth the $125 to fix it, given that it will go away on its own eventually.

It makes intuitive sense. If you stay healthy, you pay less. If you don't, you pay more, but not so much that would financially cripple you.

Now, it's still important to get to the doctor when something's not right. If you know it's a sinus infection that's one thing, but acute pain in your abdomen shouldn't be ignored. So paying $125 out of pocket shouldn't stop you from erring on the side of caution.

In the end, that comes down to managing your money right. If you're saving money because you're paying lower premiums, then you have to keep that money around in case you need it. Some people love to spend whatever is available to them, which is of course retarded given that you'll need $125 around for a sick visit on occasion.

That's where those HSA debit cards come in really handy.