High deductible plans are one of the more popular types of health insurance. Basically, a high deductible plan means that you will pay a large amount of your annual health care costs before the insurance company pays anything. If you have a $5,000 deductible, that means you would have to rack up $5,000 in medical bills before the insurance company will make any payments. So if you have $4,000 in bills for year, you get no help, you pay that $4,000. If you have $7,000 a year in bills, you pay the first $5,000 then the insurance company pays the lst $2,000.
People accept a higher deductible because it greatly reduces their monthly premium. If you are wise, you will put that monthly savings in the bank to help you pay your share of health care costs in case you get sick.
Another thing to keep in mind here is that unless something major happens to you, health care costs don't tend to be very high. And even though you will be paying the costs up to the deductible, the bill from the hospital will still go through your insurance company. And they will negotiate the bill for you, often drastically knocking down the price. They don't do this for altruistic reasons, of course. The lower your bills are, the less a chance you will satisfy the deductible and the lower the chance they will have to start paying.
