re: Health Insurance advice

Surprise bills can't happen for those who pay cash, never knew this. Also I guess you're right, no such thing as a prior auth when you're gonna pay $1,000 per month cash for a branded medication that has no generic alternative.

quote:

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definitely don't think I'm bulletproof and realize that I'm getting older, but 400 dollars per month for some half-arse plan with a 7,000 deductible seems questionable. What are the pros and cons? What would you do?

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Sounds like it’s probably a high deductible plan

If so, I would max out an HSA each year until I had 2x family deductible in it


If not, I’d have a “health emergency fund” in some account somewhere that was stable. Again, I’d want about 2x deductible sitting there.


Now, the crazy strategy:
Intentionally get high deductible plan that covers family
Max HSA annually in somewhere that has no fees and maximizes investments (I use Lively. There are other good ones. I think HSA Bank is the other really good option. Haven’t looked in years because 0 fees and TD Ameritrade backend are good enough for me)
Keep all healthcare receipts
Keep all funds maximally invested
Pay all expenses in cash



Then:
Use receipts for tax-free withdrawals in retirement
Use enormous fund for healthcare costs in retirement (tax free!)
When you stay healthy and have a small treasure trove, treat it like an IRA (you can withdraw penalty-free in retirement and pay taxes on distributions as if they were regular income.

A strategy that I frequently suggest to the young, healthy is look at the difference between a “good” health insurance plan and this. Invest the difference in premiums over the life of the plan. Barring probably hitting your deductible in consecutive years early on or developing a healthcare need/problem within 5y, you’ll come out ahead.