My 'affordable' plan had a $12,000 deductible that I missed completely

I signed up for a budget health plan during open enrollment last October, but when I went to urgent care in January for a bad cough, they hit me with a $350 bill because the deductible hadn't been met yet. Has anyone else gotten burned by a plan that looks cheap but leaves you stuck paying full price for basic visits?

3 comments

3 Comments

craig.olivia16d ago

Oh WOW, "$12,000 deductible" ??? I had to read that twice because I thought I was seeing things. That is basically like not having insurance at all until you've paid that much out of pocket. I feel for you, my "budget" plan had a $6,000 deductible and I thought that was bad enough for a yearly physical I had to pay full price for. Did you find out about the high deductible before or after you got that cough bill? Because that urgent care visit hitting you with $350 is just the start of the pain if you need anything else this year.

ryan_hart3816d ago

That $12,000 deductible is rough, no two ways about it. Makes my $5,000 one look almost reasonable. You know you're in trouble when you actually start calculating whether it's cheaper to just pay cash for everything and pretend the insurance doesn't exist. I found out about my high deductible the hard way when I went in for what I thought was a simple checkup and ended up paying for lab work out of pocket. By the third visit of the year I was doing math in the parking lot trying to figure out if I'd meet the deductible or if I should just start a new savings account instead. Its like buying a lottery ticket where you hope you don't win because winning means you're really sick.

shane_wilson16d ago

Oh man, I did the same math in my car last year trying to decide if I should just skip the doctor altogether.