Timing

Well, I got around to checking out some of the ACPA-compliant health plans Eternal Emperor is offering for next year.

The terminology probably makes perfect sense to those who shop for health plans on a regular basis, but for the rest of us, figuring out the basic "how much will I pay for what, under what conditions?" is highly confusing.  However...

The Bronze plans, as expected, look pretty darn dreadful.  At least, being offered directly by EE (and not on the exchange), they presumably provide actual access to doctors, at least at EE facilities... at prices which are considerably above what health-care services ought to cost.  Basically: pay high premiums and Don't Get Sick.

The middle Silver plan, if I'm parsing it right, actually looks decent, though with premiums and out-of-pocket costs it's still an outrageous amount for a reasonably-healthy guy to be paying.  And: I'm not too clear on out-of-network coverage, and the network is strictly regional, so, um.  If I travel more than a couple of counties away, and a tree falls on me, I might not be covered at all?

The middle Silver plan doesn't cost that much more than the cheapest Bronze, and it's significantly less than my current plan, but I'm still not clear on the differences in out-of-pocket costs and out-of-network coverage.

But, as it turns out, I have until the end of March to decide whether to switch from my grandfathered plan to a new one.

So, I'll try to get all projected doctorin' done by the end of January, at the current co-pays.  Assuming none of the tests turn up anything expensive, it'll be downgrade time, presumably to Middle Silver, thereby lowering my premium from Insane to merely Outrageous.