# We had health care sign-up yesterday at work. Here's how it went.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-health-care-sign-up-yesterday-at-work-heres-how-it-went/673899>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 14, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-health-care-sign-up-yesterday-at-work-heres-how-it-went/673899 "2013-11-14T12:36:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-health-care-sign-up-yesterday-at-work-heres-how-it-went/673899/61 "2013-11-18T15:04:14Z")

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> [@Chessic\_Sense](#):
>
> Are you sure that’s wise? Premiums for a PPO easily exceed $5,000 per year, usually. You’d be better off taking the nearly-free offer and paying the $5,000 out of pocket, tax deductible. Then, of course, there’s always the (more likely) chance that you won’t need insurance at all, and you can pocket the savings.
> 
> Maybe you did the math correctly, but at $5,000 for a cheap plan, it sounds unlikely.

High-deductible plans sound awful to people who’ve never had them but they can actually work out quite well, especially for young, healthy people, and even more especially for those whose employers contribute some or all of the deductible. Since I require very little care, my HSA now has more than enough to cover my deductible (which is admittedly much less than $5k) several years over.

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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:** [November 18, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-health-care-sign-up-yesterday-at-work-heres-how-it-went/673899/62 "2013-11-18T15:47:38Z")

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> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> High-deductible plans sound awful to people who’ve never had them but they can actually work out quite well, especially for young, healthy people, and even more especially for those whose employers contribute some or all of the deductible. Since I require very little care, my HSA now has more than enough to cover my deductible (which is admittedly much less than $5k) several years over.

They actually work quite well for a lot of people. I max out my deductible every year (Type 1 diabetic) and the high-deductible plan my employer offers works out cheaper for me than the traditional 90/10 plan.

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**Author:** ![Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3be4f8/32.png) [@Obnoxious\_Hood\_Ornament](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obnoxious_Hood_Ornament)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-had-health-care-sign-up-yesterday-at-work-heres-how-it-went/673899/63 "2013-11-18T16:50:56Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Then it sounds more like your insurance provider is using the ACA as an excuse to jack up premiums. Your company should probably shop around a bit.

Yes, that’s how things work. Never, ever, underestimate the predictability of human nature when it comes to making money.

As for the “shopping around” bit, that’s decided at the highest levels of management, so the workers just have to suck it up. And shopping around isn’t of much help when everyone decides to crank their premiums :rolleyes:

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