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Comment by lghh | Hacker News Reader

Even with best-in-class health insurance in the US, one "gotcha" leaves you with an unpayable bill. Usually, your company provides health insurance. Health insurance != health care. Larger companies (I assume this translates to tech) will also usually have a clinic on-site for smaller things and it's heavily subsidized or free.

None of this prevents you from 6-figure debt for something like a difficult, but largely by-the-book, birthing experience or a car accident.

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You can also have the best-in-class health insurance and flat out be denied coverage for whatever reason the insurance provider says.

Most insurance plans have an out of pocket maximum, no?

Generally it's out of pocket maximum to a point, like $250k. Then it's normally split, something like 80-20, where you have to cover 20% of the bill. That seems like a lot until you have something like cancer, where you need surgery plus chemo in the same year, which adds up quite fast.

> Generally it's out of pocket maximum to a point, like $250k. Then it's normally split, something like 80-20, where you have to cover 20% of the bill.

Not since the Affordable Care Act of 2010. It got rid of benefit maximums and implemented out of pocket maximum. An out of pocket maximum up to a limit is a contradiction. The situation works exactly opposite, you first pay 100% up to deductible, then you pay a proportion according to your copay, then you pay 0% after the out of pocket maximum.

Annual out of pocket maximums are typically $5k to $10k for individual/family at any half decent employer.

Legally, the maximums are $9.1k/$18.2k.

https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-li...

Yes, but it can be tens of thousands in many cases, and it does not cover many things that it should, insurance companies put deliberate effort into screwing people put of their claims.

The legal maximum is $9.1k for an individual and $18.2k for a family. At any half decent employer, it will be $5k/$10k at most.

>one "gotcha" leaves you with an unpayable bill

It is next to unheard of to have an extremely large bill if you have good health insurance. Even if you do, at tech levels of salary, if you were to effectively save the extra money, you should have no problems covering it.

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