Reply #61: And those who either have policies with low out of pocket expenses

[dflprincess]

or who have the money to pay them.

More & more employers are moving to policies with cheaper premiums and higher deductibles and "coinsurance" costs expenses for employees. These "cosumer driven health care" plans are designed to make people think twice before seeing a doctor. They're sold with the argument that it keeps people from running up needless costs by seeking care everytime they sneeze and that they do. They also keep people who have chronic condiditons or those who are having serious symptoms from seeking care. Most of these plans do cover screening (aka preventative) tests but it appears that fewer people have the tests done because they fear they won't be able to afford the follow up.

Many of these "consumer driven" scams come with HSAs. Some employers do contribute money to the HSAs, others do not. The maximum amount that may contributed annually to one of these is $3,500 (single person) even if the maximum out of pocket amount their policy allows is higher. There are some outfits who, even today, promote these HSAs as a great deal because, once you have $2,000 in it, you can INVEST IT IN A MUTUAL FUND (below $2K they are in a FDIC protected account)! What a deal, your health care dollars can be used to help Wall Street - just hope that, if you ever have some major medical bills, that the market is up.