Switching from HMO/EPO to HDHP Health Insurance
WUSTL Family HMO Premiums 2004-2019 It is open enrollment time at good old Washington University , and for the first time I have switched from the HMO/EPO choice we have been using forever to the HDHP (high deductible health plan) that the university is offering and obviously pushing. The university is even contributing $800 each year to our HSA for the family plan ($400 for single plans), and with the EPO premiums now about 3.5 times the HDHP premiums ($475.79 vs $136.89) we decided it was time to switch. Since I have been with the university over 15 years and they now store all our old paystubs on line, it was easy for me to extract the data to see how the family HMO premiums have increased over time. Back in 2004, the HMO premiums were only $189.75 per month which was less than 5% of my gross salary. For 2019 the $475.79 represents a 150% increase whereas my university salary has only increased about 70% over those 15 years. This now represents almost 7% of my salary, whe