Christian Health Cost-Sharing Ministries Offer No Guarantees

New York Times ^ | January 2, 2020 | Reed Abelson

[CharlesWayneCT]

10 years ago, I would have said that having to pay $4000 out of pocket was a non-starter.

But with Obamacare, my high-cost, premium-quality health care requires that I pay thousands before I hit my deductable. So I just paid $2000 for a minor surgical procedure out of my HSA, since I have not hit my $7000 deductable limit.

[norwaypinesavage]

"Medicare pays for skilled nursing care for 90 days and then you’re on your own."

They only pay if you're improving. If you're stable or getting worse, they kick you out after only a couple of weeks. That happened to my father in law.

[terycarl]

I will NEVER understand how, whatever treatment there is for an eight year old, could possible cost a quarter of a million dollars....just where does this money end up?????

[tbw2]

Our limit is around $7500 per family member for a high deductible health plan. However, preventative care like well checks is covered, and we get some discounts when visiting the doctor and pediatrician.

[DeweyCA]

I was a member of Medi-Share until I retired. I had my appendix taken out. They covered everything.

[lepton]

At some point the trade off is just too resource intensive.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Health insurance now is much more governed by game theory.

Each year, I have to sit down and do charts, finding the points at which each of my possible choices become better, or worse. (I can buy 3 plans, cheaper with higher deductables to expensive with lower deductables).

This past year, I actually fell within the range at which the middle choice would have actually cost me the least, but in general I go for the high choice, since I’d rather have a lower maximum cost, than save money (I had a late operation, without that, I would have saved $1000 by going with the cheapest, because I had not yet hit my deductable).

Of course, the insurance does, as you say, give discounts for everything, so it saves a lot of money even when I am paying all of it — but if you are going to hit both the deductable limit and the max payout, it makes no difference how cheap anything is (my girlfriend is like that, she knows she is going to get to the point where the insurance is covering 100%, so it makes no difference whether she hits that in march, or june, or september, and doesn’t care a bit therefore about what anything costs, and of course takes the plan with the lowest total cost, which is a higher premium).