General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: There were a whole bunch of progressives who were against the ACA [View all]Lydia Leftcoast
(48,223 posts)They count toward out-of-pocket costs, but they do not count toward the deductible.
I recently had treatment for an injury incurred due to snow and ice. I received a slight discount on the Urgent Care and orthopedists' bills ($1300 as opposed to $2000), but I have a $3,000 deductible, so I'm responsible for all of it. I do pay a flat fee for generic prescription drugs, so there's that, but as recently as 2003 (before moving to Minneapolis), I had co-pays but no deductible at Kaiser Permanente.
However, now even Kaiser has deductibles.
This is something that insurers are doing because they're specifically allowed to get away with it. There isn't even a no-deductible option for any price in the ACA exchanges.
Somehow, other countries, even those like Germany and Switzerland, which rely on private insurance, manage to not have deductibles.
Insurance companies are also specifically allowed to charge me three times higher premiums than they charge someone who's under 50.