Citydweller, The deductible applies to the out of pocket maximum. The OOPM, is $8850, not $8850+$2950. For the bronze plan, the OOPM is $6350, a mere $1350 over the deductible. Basically, a catastrophic coverage plan where you pay most of your health bills until you get into big numbers.

One thing to look at is the non-provider coverage level on your current plan and compare when available to the other plans.

When you get closer, you’ll also want to verify that the doctors in the EPO. Compared to an employer plan, the number of doctors is about 1/2. Not sure how it compares to their previous individual plans.

[quote=citydweller]I’m looking at the benefits page of my current policy (Anthem/Blue Cross), it shows a deductible of $2,950 and then “Participating and Non-participating provider Copayment/Coinsurance Maximum” of $8,850. I take this to mean my annual max out of pocket is $11,800. My monthly premium is $752 (and yes, I’m a boomer, mid-50’s)

I’m again looking at the Bronze plans, the Anthem EPO is only $388 per month, which means I would save $4,368 per year just in premium costs and still be able to stay within the Anthem network.

The deductible for this bronze plan is $5,000, which is ok with me if I’m saving over $4,000 in premium payments per year, and would still have to hit my deductible of $2,950 (on my current plan) even after paying $9,024 annual premium.

Also, the bronze plan has an annual max out of pocket of $6,350. Am I missing something, or does it make sense to switch to this lower cost plan?

I really appreciate everyone’s comments. I very seldom have medical bills and so have very little knowledge of how this all works, but I would like the security of knowing I have good coverage if I need it.[/quote]