tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post3334679115106316909..comments2024-03-29T03:57:26.974-04:00Comments on Grim's Hall: That's Certainly Been My ObservationGrimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07543082562999855432noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-37227969905020828812013-11-30T22:07:55.086-05:002013-11-30T22:07:55.086-05:00Grim , best of wishes for your wife and yourself! ...Grim , best of wishes for your wife and yourself! <br /> I would happily buy a 16,000 dollar deductible plan If it was priced to the market and my health. I suspect such a plan, free from government qualifications, designed to kick in only in severe issues, would cost very little. <br /> It used to be we had some choice between high premiums and high deductible- now we have to pay <br />both. <br /> Our choices are going to revolve around what we do to combat this . ravennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-78346773376981176242013-11-30T21:51:45.880-05:002013-11-30T21:51:45.880-05:00I was seeing $16000 deductible plans being discuss...I was seeing $16000 deductible plans being discussed (actually being offered) in 2010. <br /><br />These aren't new, really. It's just that nobody was buying them up till now. <br /><br />Eric Blairnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-51499293019431808112013-11-30T14:31:18.300-05:002013-11-30T14:31:18.300-05:00Be prepared for a string of heart-rending anecdote...Be prepared for a string of heart-rending anecdotes about the old plans and how terrible they were. Many of the stories will be true, of course. It is in the nature of the free market that some companies will try to take advantage and some consumers will make poor choices in all innocence.<br /><br />But the actual questions of whether more people are generally better off, or whether some individuals are getting screwed over <i>by their government,</i> which offers no legal recourse, versus a private entity, which can be sued, will be quietly ignored, until there just aren't enough untamed insurance policies to matter, and all are essentially private distributors of government programs.Assistant Village Idiothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01978011985085795099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5173950.post-90208871227453724192013-11-30T13:12:41.847-05:002013-11-30T13:12:41.847-05:00Well, I hope your lady makes her recovery in due c...Well, I hope your lady makes her recovery in due course and time.<br /><br />The deductibles of the Obamacare punk-metal plans are what interest me, if only because this more subtle aspect of Obamacare is little discussed.<br /><br />My wife and I have had for a number of years, courtesy of her employer, a High Deductible plan (so far, it's still legal, too). We chose this plan so that we could have an HSA, and we've been able to accumulate what should have been a substantial amount of money with which to cover a medical emergency.<br /><br />Let's take a hypothetical poor man and wife who gets a substantial subsidy (which size is proving chimerical, but let's go with Obama's claims, for this discussion) so that he can buy a Silver Plan, which will cover 70% of his and his wife's medical costs--when it actually kicks in. Let's say the subsidy cuts the premium to $200/mo. That's a stretch for a budget, but maybe he can swing it. A typical deductible runs $5,000 (which is more than the High Deductible required for my HSA)--and it resets each year.<br /><br />If our poor family incurs $4,999 in medical expenses per year, his insurance coverage never will kick in--even though it'll continue to collect his $2,400 per year in premiums (and $3,600 per year in tax-funded subsidies to get to a typical unsubsidized Silver premium) forever. Our poor man and his wife are out nearly $7,400 per year and still have no coverage from their insurance policy, even though they're the proud holders of a Silver Plan.<br /><br />Some Obamacare Plans' deductibles run as high as $12,000. Per year.<br /><br />Of course, that's the nature of deductibles; the problem with Obamacare is that the deductible (and the premium, and the specifics covered, and etc) are utterly isolated from the effects of competition and the input of risk transferred. And from customer choice.<br /><br />Our HSA wouldn't last very long under the Obamacare regime.<br /><br />Eric HinesE Hineshttp://aplebessite.comnoreply@blogger.com