# High deductible health plans - part-year?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-deductible-health-plans-part-year/694484>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [July 31, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-deductible-health-plans-part-year/694484 "2014-07-31T13:56:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-deductible-health-plans-part-year/694484/1 "2014-07-31T13:56:59Z")

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A discussion with a friend reminded me of a question that had been niggling at my mind for a bit.

If you start with a high-deductible health plan partway through a year, is the deductible typically prorated in any way? Say the deductible is 6,000 a year, and you start in November due to job change or whatever, do you have to meet that whole 6,000 before they pay anything?

And what if you change jobs / plans midway? In the above scenario would you have to pay 12,000 total before getting any assistance?

I thought about putting this in GQ, but wasn’t sure there was a hard answer.

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**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-deductible-health-plans-part-year/694484/2 "2014-07-31T14:29:53Z")

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I went through this last year - started a new job in July, after reaching the $4K deductible on my previous insurance. The new deductible was not prorated in any way. Given that, I opted to keep my old insurance through the end of the year rather than hop on the new one. I’d been self-employed, so the policy was a personal one and I could easily keep it.

Had I not done that, I’d have had to meet the entire new deductible as well before anything would kick in.

My new company had an open enrollment period in November, effective January 1, so it all worked out pretty well.

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**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-deductible-health-plans-part-year/694484/3 "2014-07-31T17:51:20Z")

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My daughter’s high deductible insurance was dropped due to Obamacare, and so she had to get new insurance starting in January. She found a new high deductible for a little more money.

She broke her arm in December, and so she pretty much paid for it all.

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**Author:** ![thatguyjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6de8d8/32.png) [@thatguyjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thatguyjeff)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-deductible-health-plans-part-year/694484/4 "2014-08-01T16:33:17Z")

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The short answer is, no. Deductibles are not prorated in any way you describe. There are exceptions, but they are rare.

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**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/high-deductible-health-plans-part-year/694484/5 "2014-08-01T16:35:49Z")

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No it is usually not. There are cases where it can carry over from the last quarter of the previous year, or have the deductible transferred to a new plan but that will be with the same company and within pretty strict guidelines.