Looks like the third year in a row we'll hit our High Deductible

[rodi]

2015 was our first year on HSA/HDHPs... That was the year that younger son broke his left elbow... then his right wrist. Older son had a 3 day hospitalization and then later took a baseball to the face - breaking his orbital socket in a couple places. And I had a cyst removed from my breast. We hit the family max deductible (but not any individual ones) and came close to hitting family max OOP.

2016 I started out very optimistic... we had very few incidents... and our medical OOP was nice and low for the first 2/3s of the year. Then, in October, the dentist noticed a mass on my son's jaw in the x-ray (and also noticed it in observation...) Turns out it was an Ameloblastoma requiring a 4 hour surgery. That was enough that we hit older son's individual max OOP.

2017 I go in for my normal check up... Doc doesn't like my iron levels so she has me take supplements and retest... Still no good so she orders a colonoscopy and ERG. Since it's for cause (and a year before my scheduled colonoscopy) this is a chargeable item. They found and removed 1 polyp (glad to have that gone). Unfortunately, they also found a submucosal lesion in my mid esophagus. I'm headed back for an endoscopy with ultrasound next month. It sounds like they'll do a needle biopsy while in there... Doing a little reading the odds of it being life threatening are very small... but the odds of them wanting to remove this mass/lesion are pretty high... so I likely have surgery in my future... Looks like this is the year that I hit my max out of pocket.

When I chose a high deductible plan I looked back at the family's medical history and decided we were robustly healthy with few medical expenses... As soon as we're on a HDHP - it all goes to heck.

Oh well... good thing I budget for the deductible and max OOP.

 

[2017ish]

Oh man. Good luck.

 

[MissMolly]

Bummer

Hope things improve. This would seriously upset me. We all plan for some extra expenses to occur over time, but usually not year after year after year.

 

[NW-Bound]

... Unfortunately, they also found a submucosal lesion in my mid esophagus. I'm headed back for an endoscopy with ultrasound next month. It sounds like they'll do a needle biopsy while in there... Doing a little reading the odds of it being life threatening are very small... but the odds of them wanting to remove this mass/lesion are pretty high... so I likely have surgery in my future... Looks like this is the year that I hit my max out of pocket...

Let's hope that the lesion is benign. The deductible is not significant in the grand scheme.

I incurred max deductible of $10K for 3 years (1 for my son, and 2 for me). But we cost our insurer more than $200K for treatment. I'd rather the insurer not having to pay that much (and I did not have to go through miserable surgeries, treatments, and recoveries).

 

[limeyx]

That really sucks. This is why the rest of the world has a proper health care system ...

 

[gerntz]

That really sucks. This is why the rest of the world has a proper health care system ...

Since you made this political, define proper.

 

[Doingitwrong]

That's a tough start to using HSA! How old are you? Can you afford to fund the HSA and pay expenses out of pocket?
Funding levels are too low but this is one of the best savings vehicles out there (if you don't need the money and have a custodian that allows investment beyoud a savings account)!

 

[pb4uski]

Just curious... would your total cost have been much different with a silver or gold plan or is it just a premium/deductible tradeoff?

 

[rodi]

Please keep politics out of this. Thanks.

I would be slightly ahead if I'd done a silver plan. And I've said before... The most important part of the insurance is getting the negotiated rates. A huge savings.

 

[rodi]

That's a tough start to using HSA! How old are you? Can you afford to fund the HSA and pay expenses out of pocket?
Funding levels are too low but this is one of the best savings vehicles out there (if you don't need the money and have a custodian that allows investment beyoud a savings account)!

I'm 55. And yes we're mostly cash flowing the medical.... Saving the hsa funds to spend in the future. Keeping receipts so we can withdraw at any time.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

That really sucks. This is why the rest of the world has a proper health care system ...

Wow, .

 

[Ready]

Sorry to hear Rodi, but I'm sure you will be just fine. We all tend to worry way too much about these things.

 

[Doingitwrong]

I'm 55. And yes we're mostly cash flowing the medical.... Saving the hsa funds to spend in the future. Keeping receipts so we can withdraw at any time.

Excellent!
Different circumstances here as DW has issues and is always on a gold plan. I'm 54, self-employed, and have $17,000 in my self-only HSA. I even paid her COBRA premiums out of it in 2010-2011. It'll come in handy down the road.
All I can add is to stay the course. Every year is not always as bad as the last!
We've come a long way from her having stage 4 cancer, no insurance and broke in our 30's to ready to FIRE later this year.
Best wishes for good news from both of us.

 

[Doingitwrong]

Wow, .

I tried not to reply! In-laws in Canada wait months or years for procedures we get routinely done in the US. The ignorance is overwhelming.

 

[Moemg]

Hopefully this is the end and next year will be better .

 

[aja8888]

Wishing you good luck Rodi!

 

[Dreamer]

I am wishing you good luck and that 2018 will be a medical problem free year.

 

[Jerry1]

Wishing you well health wise. What a bad stretch - three years. I hope my situation does not mirror yours. This is my first year in an HSA,HDP and DW had a significant medical condition so we're going to meet our OOP. When I was talking to people about a HDP, they said they were good if you were healthy and hardly used any medical or if you were really sick and used it to the max. I wasn't sure of the logic, but I was hoping for the healthy scenario. Hoping for better next year for us all.

 

[easysurfer]

Wishing you the best Rodi.

I hope your plan has 100% coverage rest of year after the high deductible met.

 

[limeyx]

Since you made this political, define proper.

I didnt make it political, or at least didn't intend to

Most developed countries have decent healthcare that's available to anyone without paying thousands of dollars, depending on your employer for care, or going bankrupt if you can't afford care is all.

Nothing to do with politics particularly

 

[rodi]

limeyx - my post was more of a whine about not catching a break with my existing healthcare coverage and the associated expenses. It is not intended to discuss to pros/cons of healthcare systems in other countries. Please do not bring irrelevant discussions of healthcare that isn't available to me - that IS bringing in politics and not relevant to the thread.

I say this both as the OP - and as a moderator.

 

[Scuba]

Rodi, I wish you the best possible outcome with the upcoming surgery. I'm sure it's stressful going through all of this. Take care and please let us know how you're doing.

 

[MichaelB]

Let's hope that the lesion is benign.

+1 Rodi, wishing you the best on this.

I would be slightly ahead if I'd done a silver plan. And I've said before... The most important part of the insurance is getting the negotiated rates. A huge savings.

When I looked at total cost, using the spreadsheet Anamorph built, the difference was minimal, and there was no way to make the "right choice" beforehand. The HSA bronze showed lowest total cost across more scenarios than any other, and if I considered tax savings, it was the lowest every time (if I'm remembering correctly).

I recall the years when a fair amount of my income, along with every penny of our savings, went to medical care. Those were challenging times, both emotionally and financially, but (hopefully) they will pass and your 3 for 3 in hitting deductibles will become 3 for 10, and your savings recover.

 

[latexman]

Looks like Murphy is still alive and well. Sorry for the run of bad luck, and best wishes.

 

[athena53]

My dear mother used to say that as soon as you let them scope or scan you, they'll find all kinds of stuff you never knew about and want to fix it! Good news on the colonoscopy, though. My first one revealed a nasty that had a good chance of becoming cancerous if I hadn't had it removed by now (it was 12 years ago). I WILL get them regularly for the rest of my life!

I've been VERY fortunate since retiring 3 years ago- only a few cases of poison ivy and a cold that wouldn't go away that I wanted checked out before I headed to Central America. Having kids on your plan really adds to the risk, though. I hope you have a better 2018!