- Joined
- Sep 10, 2006
- Messages
- 4,092
Hmmmm....trying to make a decision here. I think I know the way I want to go, but wanna run it by the savvy minds of this board first.
First, for those who don't know me, not FIRED yet. DH and I are covered by his work benefits. His benefits options changed in 2010. We chose a high ded plan with an HSA.
The high ded costs us $450 a year in payroll deductions. The deductible is $3200.
Pharmacy coverage does not kick in until after the deductible is met. We are pretty healthy and our total health care costs (including prescription drugs) were around $4K in 2008 and $2600 in 2009.
Now that we have a deductible, I am looking at our prescription costs closely. A big chunk of it is due to a Nexium prescription. Through the network plan it costs $3.40/pill. If I take 1 pill a day, that adds up to $1241/yr (on top of that I do occasionally take 2 a day). Yikes! I found another company where I can buy it for $2.19/pill ($799/yr) or their generic version for $1.66/pill ($606/yr). (This company comes highly recommended by a friend of mine who has used them for several years.)
The caveat is if I go out of network for pharmacy, it does not count towards my deductible.
I'm leaning towards going out of network since we've only met $139 towards our deductible so far this year (been really healthy, knock on wood). I think the chances of us actually meeting the $3200 deductible, even if I buy the network Nexium is pretty low. However, I just want to make sure I am not overlooking something.
Thoughts?
First, for those who don't know me, not FIRED yet. DH and I are covered by his work benefits. His benefits options changed in 2010. We chose a high ded plan with an HSA.
The high ded costs us $450 a year in payroll deductions. The deductible is $3200.
Pharmacy coverage does not kick in until after the deductible is met. We are pretty healthy and our total health care costs (including prescription drugs) were around $4K in 2008 and $2600 in 2009.
Now that we have a deductible, I am looking at our prescription costs closely. A big chunk of it is due to a Nexium prescription. Through the network plan it costs $3.40/pill. If I take 1 pill a day, that adds up to $1241/yr (on top of that I do occasionally take 2 a day). Yikes! I found another company where I can buy it for $2.19/pill ($799/yr) or their generic version for $1.66/pill ($606/yr). (This company comes highly recommended by a friend of mine who has used them for several years.)
The caveat is if I go out of network for pharmacy, it does not count towards my deductible.
I'm leaning towards going out of network since we've only met $139 towards our deductible so far this year (been really healthy, knock on wood). I think the chances of us actually meeting the $3200 deductible, even if I buy the network Nexium is pretty low. However, I just want to make sure I am not overlooking something.
Thoughts?