why does insurance only cover catastrophic events?

i agree. that was the way it was 20 years ago. you went to the doctor for check-ups, flu etc, paid your copay and they billed the insurance who then paid the doctor. if you had an emergency, went to the ER, and if the insurance believed it was an emergency, they would sometimes waive your deductible.

now everyone has high deductibles and co pays. so unless you get really sick, have surgery etc, you are on the hook for all of your medical bills. the only advantage of the insurance is the discount rate that you have to pay vs the full billed price.

now you are stuck going to in-network doctors that may not be your preferred choice. or go to a hospital that is supposed to be in-network and find out that some labs or doctors are out-of network so you get stuck with the addtl cost that they charge.

also the cost of RX is unbelievable. gone are the days of $5 or $10 copay. most of the new drugs, you get on the hook for up to 50% of the cost or a maximum they will cover. just like in medicare, many people found that after 4 or 5 months in the donut hole and owe 100% for their drugs, so they either eliminate them, take sporadically to be able to afford them.

i had surgery a year ago. i also had $2,500 deductible and 80/20. i ended up owing almost $4K out of pocket and all of it was in-network.

i now have a $5K and 70/30 co-pay and hope i wont need it since i am still paying off the surgery.

First of all, $2500 is NOT catastrophic care. I broke my wrist and it was $10,000. A broken wrist, although painful, is not catastrophic.

You can get a $0 plan, but it would cost more than $2500 in premium to get it. The reason for that is because you'd use it more. Using insurance for every bump and bruise isn't going to keep health costs down. HOWEVER, that being said, it's nice to have first dollar preventative care so that you don't go unchecked and have a small item turn into a big item.

And, no insurance isn't for every small item. Insurance is designed to protect you from large losses. So, with a deductible and a reasonable coinsurance amount you are transferring the majority of the risk to the insurance company and taking some of the risk yourself. By doing so you're saving much more in monthly premiums.

Make sense?

Honey, if you WANTED a zero deductible plan, you should have BOUGHT and PAID FOR a zero deductible plan.

It exists.

You get what you pay for - and by taking a $2500 deductible, you saved about HALF the price.

SO. If your no deductible plan would have cost you $400 a month, but youre $2500 deductible costs you $200 a month . . . do the math. If you're healthy, you come out ahead of the game. If you have a bad year, you're EVEN.

With health insurance, you get what you pay for.

Now go buy a zero deductible plan, and PAY double for it, if that's what you want.

Sheesh. You're paying for a McDonalds Hambuger, and complaining that it's not a Ruth Chris filet mignon.

There are many, many different types of insurance plans. What you describe is what's called a high-deductible health plan (HDHP). The premium is lower because of that high deductible. Often, people couple these plans with a Health Savings Account (HSA).

That would be dollar swapping. For ins to pay frim the first dollar, do you have any idera how much the premium would be?