[Brian Griffin]

“How many are dying because they can’t afford the deductible?”

Very few, hospitals simply raise their inpatient prices $5,000 so they can afford not to collect the $5,000 bronze deductible.

My plan tends to keep annual deductibles in the $1,300 to $2,000 range by cutting subsidies based on higher deductibles.

Note though that you can buy a $10,000 deductible plan via the exchange if an insurer offers it. It won’t be eligible for federal subsidy unless you pre-deposit about $7,500 with the insurer.

Can I get subsidies for a $20,000 deductible policy under my plan? Yes, by pre-depositing $17,500+ with the insurer.

[Brian Griffin]

Will you get a discount with your pre-deposit?

That’s a private contractual matter between you and the insurer.

[Brian Griffin]

My comment on “pre-deposit” was wrong.

I recently changed the rule so pre-deposit reduction is limited to $1,300 (~10%) for federal subsidy calculation purposes.

That would make plans federal subsidy ineligible when their deductible goes above about $2,000 to $3,000.

I’d like to see what happens before undoing my recent change.

I’d like to get a better return on my money by high-deductible/pre-deposit, but I don’t want PPACA-style high-deductibles that inflate hospital prices.

[arthurus]

Your plan is a centralized government plan that "allows" some market like aspects. It must keep costs to the system, no matter how they are distributed, higher than would be the case in a free market. It is a government plan therefore if enacted it will every year thereafter be added to and subtracted from and jiggered and twiddled with. This group or that group will have its particular complaint addressed by increasing the cost to some other group or to the taxpayers at large. No detailed "plan" can be anything but a scheme to raise prices and limit access. That is how any government plan must and will work out. Have you noticed what happened to Reagan's tax reformation? To make the situation optimum , get the government away from any input. HeyĂ We are Constitutional Conservatives here!!! Why is a Constitutional Conservative laying out a plan for the government to keep its leaden hand on the neck of Medicine?