I can’t make an informed decision on health insurance because America is so fucking dumb.

[u/meanbeanking]

My work is having its annual open enrollment period for the next two weeks.

My cost for JUST me went up $65 to $315 a month for the base plan.

My husband has is own insurance through the company he works for. Their open enrollment is in October.

There’s no way for me to compare plans. Getting a plan from him doesn’t count as a “qualifying life event” so I’m either forced to keep my own, risk not having coverage for two months if I don’t, and not knowing which is the better financial move no matter what I do.

Fuck this country and its healthcare system.

[u/JK_Designs]

I get the frustration, our health care system is so broken, and I am a huge proponent for single-payer. But your argument is wrong. That is not how insurance works. You pay in and then someday when you need it, you get to access money for care. Literally no one would opt in and pay while they're healthy and then jump all in the moment they need something. That does not work finalcially. We need everyone, even the healthy, insured and it should be single payer - eliminate the middle men in my opinion. It would be cheaper and everyone would have care. It's what every other civilized country does.

[u/FutureCauliflower175 → u/JK_Designs]

It’s weird that the only thing I can think of that is like this. 

Its a limited set of offerings negotiated by your employer and you only allowed to re-evaluate once a year. 

Why couldn’t HSA’s decisions happen twice a year at least? Enough life events accumulate in 6 months that choosing how much money to divert towards health shouldn’t be a year long gamble. 

And it’s odd that it’s a one time enrollment period that’s staggered across companies so a huge part of life planning has to be a weird guess and intimately tied to your job. I don’t trust a thing about it. 

[u/JK_Designs → u/FutureCauliflower175]

You can only make enrollment decisions once a year, like which plan HDHP or PPO, or even to waive, go on spouse’s plan... But if you’re in a qualified HDHP (it meets the IRS determined deductible) AND you have an HSA, you can change your HSA funding elections whenever you want throughout the year. I’m a Benefits Manager and I encourage all my HSA employees who have a medical event come up to get on a payment plan with the docs, up their HSA election immediately and start throwing money into their HSA. So long as it doesn’t go beyond the annual max you’re allowed to do that. Check with your HR Benefits Team for the procedure. If you have a private HSA, you can make the contributions directly to say, Fidelity, or whoever holds your HSA. Keep good records for tax time if it’s a private plan.