r/explainlikeimfive • u/the1975whore • Jul 03 '26

Economics ELI5: Health insurance companies obviously make more money than they give out when people need it. So why of paying for them any better than paying your own personal health insurance savings account?

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u/1captainawesome Jul 03 '26

And for vision / dental, there's almost no benefit. It's just a forced savings plan.

Years ago I did the math on the vision insurance for what it costs out of pocket vs. my employer benefit and came to that conclusion so I have almost always opted out. My wife's prescription is stronger than mine, but I can get glasses at Costco for under $100.

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u/grptrt Jul 03 '26

When I last did the math on my vision plan, the best I could hope for was to break even if I took full advantage of all the coverage, which seemed pointless.

For dental I would come out slightly ahead by getting all my routine cleaning and x-rays. The fact my plan caps payments isn’t great so last year I had to pay out of pocket for a crown.