PPO vs. CDHP?????

Does anyone know anything about health insurance? I've recently taken a new job. In order to get a higher salary, I agreed to obtain health insurance on my own. This is no problem as my wife's employer offers decent rates on it. My question is, right now she has the PPO plan with her company which offers all kinds of coverage for a pretty penny. Adding me on to this plan would cost a pretty penny. Or, we can switch us both to the CDHP plan which would cover us both for about the same cost as we pay for just her on the current plan. My concern is that the PPO plan has an in-network and an out-of-network deductible. She has no problem meeting the in-network deductible but doesn't meet the out-of-network deductible. With the CDHP plan, it's one flat deductible which is higher than both the in-network and out-of-network deductible combined.

My concern is that I rarely go to the doctor (unless I'm barely walking), but by me being on the plan, it'll more than double our deductibles. Any thoughts or suggestions? I'd like to have insurance just in case something catostrophic happens and I really need it. Otherwise I'd just forget about it cause the once a year I go to the doctor is still a lot cheaper than the insurance premium.

 

You have to figure in the premium savings by taking the CDHP (Consumer Driven Health Plan), and see what that does to the higher deductible CDHP. If you raise your deductible by $2000, but it saves you $2500 in premium then it is wise to take the CDHP. Also with health plans you will see an individual deductible and a family deductible. Something like $1500/$3000. Depending on your plan you may not automatically have to satisfy the family deductible. If the plan has embedded deductibles each person will only have to meet the individual deductible.

One thing with in and out of network deductibles. You should always try to stay in network. If you stay in network you will never need to worry about the higher out of network deductible. Also when you go out of network you run the risk of being balanced billed for the difference by the doctor. This can make the same procedure much more expensive out of network. Always search you physician network and use those doctors.