https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sat, 30 May 2026 05:59:55 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901828 Fri, 08 Nov 2019 08:17:06 +0000 gotkimchi 2901828@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hilary: this is smart, I think I’m going to take the hsa 2 to be safe and see what we have left that rolls over </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901827 Fri, 08 Nov 2019 08:00:07 +0000 hilary 2901827@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We've also over time built up to what is effectively HSA3 for us. We have low premium, super high deductible but have built up our HSA over the years that if we unexpectedly hit the out of pocket max we can cover all of that out of the HSA. When I was pregnant with twins, DH switched jobs and we hit the out of pocket max for 2 separate plans which was brutal and burned through a lot of HSA, so took a lower deductible plan the following year knowing we didn't have as much in the HSA to cover anything unexpected. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901606 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 17:19:22 +0000 gotkimchi 2901606@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DesertDreams88: this is for me + kids.<br /> Husband is on a separate plan </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901605 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 16:58:39 +0000 DesertDreams88 2901605@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gotkimchi: Nah, that deductible is too high for me. I'd choose the HSA 1 or 2. I assume / hope these are family numbers?? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901598 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 15:47:06 +0000 gotkimchi 2901598@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@KNS: ouch! Yah I hate stuff like this because we’re locking into a plan for a whole year where we can’t predict what will or won’t happen. However, I also hate paying for stuff “just because” I think I might take the hsa2 because we’ve never done this plan before and I’d like to see if we have any money left to rollover to next year </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901597 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 15:43:02 +0000 KNS 2901597@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gotkimchi: I think that this is so much about your personal risk tolerance. I don't know how many/hold old your kids are but we have a 2 and 5 year old who have had enough expensive medical events over the last few years that I would only choose the HSA 3 plan if I was absolutely prepared to spend the $10k in a year if I needed to. I also don't want to be in a position where I am wondering if I should take a kid to the ER - we've had breathing issues in the past that required this - and not going because I don't want to/can't afford to pay the bill. </p> <p>But that is my risk tolerance and yours may be different. You won't be screwed either way because you know the terms of the plan and are the one choosing, you just don't necessarily know what the future holds medically for you and your covered dependents so you could end up with very little or blowing past the oop max. In one year we ended up with over $100k of billed healthcare costs so it can definitely happen. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901596 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 15:26:30 +0000 gotkimchi 2901596@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@DesertDreams88: what’s your take on the plans above given your experience? Will I get screwed to take the 10000 deductible but the low premiums? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901590 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 14:01:42 +0000 DesertDreams88 2901590@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PurplePumps: you've got skills :)</p> <p>--------------</p> <p>I have had an HSA for 10 years, through 2 babies, a miscarriage, and 2 ER visits. I prefer the HSA model because I feel it gives me more control over money and a greater chance of saving money, on the years with little medical care. </p> <p>On our plan for an individual, the PPO is $600 in premiums a year and the HSA is 0. My employer gives us $1000 to put into the HSA. So I look at it as, at the starting point, there's a net difference of $1600 between plans -- on a year with no medical care, the ppo puts me $600 behind and the HSA $1000 ahead. Sooooo I've always sided with the HSA. </p> <p>I also love the tax savings of the HSA since it lowers your taxable income, and I love how the money stays in your account year-to-year if you don't use it.</p> <p>Nowadays though, my employer doesn't even have the option of a PPO plan :( Just ONE HSA plan. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901580 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 12:12:19 +0000 yellowbeach 2901580@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Just want to say love this thread full of smart ladies. Despite working in healthcare, this kind of thing makes my head spin. @PurplePumps I appreciate your Excel use. ;) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901569 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 10:41:37 +0000 gotkimchi 2901569@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PurplePumps: thank you so much! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901567 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 10:00:19 +0000 PurplePumps 2901567@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Here's a little closer look at the lower amounts </p> [attach=2644/19/q0i4cj.600x453.1572965992920_Capture.JPG] https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901566 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 09:55:13 +0000 PurplePumps 2901566@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gotkimchi: I think hsa1 would be the safe bet if you plan for higher medical cost. Hsa2 if you very rarely have anything unexpected pop up. Hsa3 would definitely be out for me, too much risk for my comfort in the middle there. Ppos never seem worth it, it was pretty much the same with my company too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901565 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 09:51:05 +0000 gotkimchi 2901565@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PurplePumps: bless you! So hsa3 is less until we hit about $5500 billed and if I think we’ll hit that it actually looks like hsa1 would be the best. Is that right? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901564 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 09:48:19 +0000 PurplePumps 2901564@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gotkimchi: here ya go...I threw together a quick chart of billed amount vs oop cost.<br /> The numbers are adjusted based on employer contribution, so like if you incur no cost, you end up "paying less" than your premiums. </p> [attach=2644/19/q0i3sj.600x444.Capture.JPG] https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901562 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 09:34:42 +0000 gotkimchi 2901562@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PurplePumps: the first 3 plans you pay 20% after deductible. Hsa3 the plan pays 100% if you reach deductible which is also the oop max</p> <p>@Anagram: prescriptions are covered in the first 3 but not hsa 3. However it’s only birth control so wouldn’t be too much and I can stock up now. I already pay the take them in cost guessing game 😭 because it’s expensive until we reach our deductible which we haven’t this year </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901556 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 08:52:00 +0000 PurplePumps 2901556@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Do they all have the same coverage after deductible? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901555 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 08:46:53 +0000 Anagram 2901555@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>In the past year, I had 1 colonoscopy, 2 endoscopies, numerous scans, a surgery, and I still need a diagnostic mammorgram and an ekg, so I'm not even finished. So I always go for the more full-coverage plans.</p> <p>Do all of these offer the same prescription benefits, and is that something your family needs to consider? For my whole family, only I have a prescription that I need monthly. But when I was just figuring out my own insurance options during open enrollment a couple of weeks ago, I found out different options offer different prescription coverage and the cheapest plans didn't cover my medication at all, so that would cost me $300/month out of pocket, which totally negates any savings those plans would have given me. So consider that stuff, too.</p> <p>You also have to consider your own decision-making tendencies. I have great insurance, so I never hesitate to take my kids (or myself) in because at most I'm paying a $10 copay. It goes a long way for peace of mind. But I do have friends with high deductible plans and because they know they'll be paying $200/pop to see a doctor, they are always sweating the cost of a doctor's visit and trying to decide if a child's illness is "worth" the cost of a visit. It's a lot of mental guesswork that I don't have to deal with.</p> <p>So it's one thing if you know you can set aside 5-10k and not worry at all when you have to use it for visits, but it's another if you're going to worry and hem and haw every time you need a doctor's visit. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901554 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 08:22:53 +0000 gotkimchi 2901554@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bhbee: yah that’s a good point </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901553 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 08:19:05 +0000 bhbee 2901553@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@gotkimchi: that’s a tough one, but if you feel like a huge expense would be tough then I’d go with hsa2. There’s a lot to be said for peace of mind. The difference between the two plans is 300 + 1200 and that’s not nothing but not huge. As an example random cost we are having a quick outpatient surgery coming up and it is going to add up to several thousand so something like that could bump you to 5k. My friend had something crazy happen where her son fell on a rock, high initial cost for plastic surgeon and it didn’t heal right so now she’s looking at more surgery - even in healthy kids you never know. </p> <p>I’d go with your gut on how the 10k makes you feel. If it scares you, go with hsa2. If you feel like a gambler take hsa3. One thing to remember if you did run up some crazy 10k medical bill (or even 5k) is that you can always pay them over time (but still sucks to owe it of course!). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901551 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 07:01:27 +0000 gotkimchi 2901551@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hitchhiker: yes its all the same network and the same doctors the kids have right now so thats good. They just are giving us new plans this year as far as how much we pay and whats covered </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901550 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 07:00:37 +0000 gotkimchi 2901550@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@bhbee: Ideally I would take the hsa 3, put the difference in premiums in our hsa because I figured the same thing - I might as well pay myself. I just don't want to get screwed! I'm sort of down to hsa2 or 3. The difference is with the hsa2 you pay 20% after the deductible (5000) until you hit 9000 where as the hsa3 we'd be 100% responsible until 10,000. Last year we spent around 2000 on care for the family </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901549 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 06:58:28 +0000 gotkimchi 2901549@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@KNS: the money is money work will put in our hsa for us. These are all for employee + children which is who I would have on my plan. We could not pay for 10000 of healthcare right now but between what work puts in and what I would put in our hsa we'd have about 5000 in there. That should cover our expenses barring anything unusual, which is always a possibility with kids. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901548 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 05:36:46 +0000 hitchhiker 2901548@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Agree that this is a lot about your ability to bear to risk as you build your HSA balance. But another thing to consider--do all of these plans have the same network? Are your preferred doctors in network? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901542 Tue, 05 Nov 2019 00:23:51 +0000 KNS 2901542@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So one question would be are you able to pay for $10k of healthcare in the worst case scenario. If that answer is no then I would not choose hsa3. If you are ok with that risk and know that you generally don’t have high health care costs then I would probably chose that one. Otherwise I would choose hsa1 as it seems to offer the best balance of lower deductible and premium cost. Then if you build up an hsa balance over a couple years so you have the $10k there. I would move to that plan knowing I was self insured and could continue building the savings if we didn’t need it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901538 Mon, 04 Nov 2019 21:35:58 +0000 bhbee 2901538@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It’s a bit of a pain but one way I did this was to look at the past year in excel, if you’re comfortable in it. It definitely depends on how frequent your visits are, do you need special meds or procedures, surgery, etc. What was your deductible this year? Did you meet it? How much have you paid OOP total? You should be able to get those figures from the insurance website and estimate spending that way, although factor in any one offs like birth. </p> <p>We only have 3 choices so it’s more straightforward, but we choose the cheap HDHP w/ HSA even though we have mid-high medical expenses usually. We looked at the premium difference per month and said, ok, is the expensive plan going to save us that much per month on average? What happens if we have an ER visit or surgery? </p> <p>We take the max pay-in from the company to the HSA and our monthly HSA contribution is equal to the difference in premiums. I like that idea ... if we don’t need it, we save it in the HSA vs a premium which is money burned no matter what. </p> <p>The difference between hsa1 and hsa3 is $120/mo saved (assuming you put that difference in the HSA) plus $1000 extra from company, right? That’s $2440 to spend toward expenses but that is savings for you (to spend on any future medical needs) if you don’t spend it. So, to justify a more expensive plan you need to believe that having the lower deductible would save you a lot, basically that you will blow through the deductible quickly and then see savings. Depends on your co-insurance % also (how much do you pay after meeting deductible). In the worst case scenario, someone needs tons of treatment, your OOP max is 2k higher. </p> <p>Ok so that’s super rambly, but maybe gives you some ideas to think about! </p> <p>ETA not saying hsa3 is definitely your best choice - hsa2 also looks promising. Just trying to illustrate some math. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901535 Mon, 04 Nov 2019 21:25:20 +0000 KNS 2901535@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>What does the $ from work line mean? Also - are those limits individual or family? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-insuranceopen-enrollment-buffs#post-2901534 Mon, 04 Nov 2019 20:47:13 +0000 gotkimchi 2901534@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I need to enroll and I’m having trouble comparing the plans</p> <p> Ppo. Hsa1. Hsa2. Hsa3<br /> Deductible 2000. 3000. 5000. 10000<br /> Oop max. 8000. 8000. 9000. 10000<br /> Premium. 244/mo 172. 148. 50<br /> $from work 200. 800. 1500. 1800</p> <p>If this makes sense to anyone let me know 😭 I’m considering the low premium and putting the difference in a hsa but will I get fucked? I’m thinking our cost will be around $2000? Just guessing </p>