I recently had to have a biopsy for results gleaned from my mammogram from the state breast and cervical health program. I asked the nurse what would happen if the biopsy was cancerous, would the state program pay for surgery? She said she didn't know. She went on to say that the doctors and nurses intentionally stay ignorant of the programs, and who is covered and who is not, so that the exact same care is provided to people who are covered by insurance, and people who have no coverage at all. She said "people get all nervous about whether they have health insurance or not, but it doesn't matter to us." My insurance is by Anthem, catastrophic care only, many restrictions, and I also have a Health savings account. People think I'm nuts, but I actually like an arrangement that encourages me to be more active in my health and health care decisions. With apologies to Robert Frost, a hospital is a place where, if you have to go there, they have to take you in.

I read your link tom418 (which is to a blog, BTW), and I stand by what I said. There are many HDHPs available in Mass, but they do have to meet minimum standards. That by no means makes them "deluxe" policies, to use your term. For example, in order not to trigger the tax (or fine, if you prefer), a MASS HDHP: must not limit benefit payments because an individual develops Alzheimer's, mental illness, alcoholism or other chemical dependency after the policy is issued; it can't have a pre-existing condition limitation that lasts for more than six months after the policy's effective date; it must be guaranteed renewable or non-cancelable, etc, etc. Standards like these are a long, long way from demanding that people can only buy "delux" plans, which is what your post claims. What will happen and who will pay their health care costs if one or both of the Williams eventually develops Alzheimer's and their policy doesn't cover it and they, themselves, run out of money? Why should the rest of the taxpayers of Mass pay for them just because they opted for the cheapest type of insurance they thought they could get away with? Apparently, the plan the Williams couple has doesn't meet the minimum standards, but there's just no way to tell why from your link because no further info is provided. So given that you don't have the foggiest idea what their plan covers and doesn't cover, your question "In what way would a high -deductable plan (like the MA couple I mentioned had) be useless?" can be answered, "Don't know exactly, but maybe in a lot of ways."

I've been paying roughly $1000-$1200/month for myself since my husband's retirement over ten years ago. That does not include kids. We covered them on student health plans, which turned out to be cheaper in sum. I can give you a couple of tips: Don't bother with the Federal Health Exchange site unless you will qualify for a supplement of some kind. It's not a terrible site, but you'll have to do everything yourself. You are better off contacting a local insurance broker (I found mine on NextDoor). It may end being a very simple decision because in many markets there is only one company that sells to non-group members. So I can buy a gold, silver or bronze plan, but only from Community Health Choice (Houston suburb). My plan offers a 10% discount for completing an annual survey. I'd had the same plan the year before but never knew about that discount until the agent told me -so ask about that. Try not to panic when you read the crazy deductibles. I think mine is $5000 (whereas ten years ago, it was probably $500), but so much preventative care is now covered pre-deductible, thanks to Obama care, that I think I'm spending less out-of-pocket than I did before. But I'm a pretty healthy person who doesn't use a lot of medical services except preventative, so your mileage may vary... When I first began to buy my own insurance plans (after DH's retirement), I made the mistake of picking the plan first, rather than the doctor. The last few years (when I had a choice of at least 2 companies to choose from), I compiled a list of at least a dozen primary physicians I could abide, and then called their offices to see if they were accepting new patients, when I would be able to get an appointment, and whether they had any plans to cancel coverage with insurance company X the next year, etc. I had learned the hard way (in January), that I may have had a great plan, but I couldn't find a dr. on that plan who would see me as a new patient before August. I kid you not.....So that year, I was paying $1200/month and actually didn't have a dr. I could see until August.....

"regional version of Blue Cross" gives me pause. You'll have to check with HR on your specific policy. With Cobra being federal, they have to offer you a plan but it could possibly be an alternative plan if you move from the area of coverage. We ran into something similar years ago when the company DH was working for was purchased by a firm across the river in Oregon. The insurance sounded more than adequate without any payment to cover part of the premiums to be withheld for employees or their families. What we discovered was after one of DH's coworkers accumulated several hundred dollars in allergy testing for one of his children was we were covered by Blue Cross of Oregon which paid considerably less at Washington locations. Scramble in change of plans for us and by years end we had Blue Cross of Washington but with an expensive interim for a few.