kutulu

Yes, it gets quite expensive as you get older, but all individual insurance plans do. Men aged 25-30 are the lowest risk group, where on the other hand people start having big time health problems in their 50's.

Insurance through your employer is usually different. Maybe it's just Arizona, but everyone in my office pays the same rate for the same plan.

Be carefull with the HSA. There are some HSA's where you lose your contributions at the end of the year. Overall, I do not trust them. My employer almost went to a high deductible plan with a HSA. The employees practically revolted. Basically, the deductible and co-insurance would have gone from 500/1000 to 1500/3000. This would have given me a 25% drop in my premium. Sounds great until you do the math. In order for me to get back to a max out of pocket of 1500, I would have had to put all the savings plus a little extra into my HSA for the next three years. Once I put a total of 3k into my HSA, I could then enjoy my reduced premium. Of course, that money gets wiped out in the event of a medical emergency.

Before you actually go with the HSA, figure out the difference in max out of pocket per year. Then divide it by the premium savings. That will give you the number of months that you have to transfer all of the savings into the HSA. If it takes more than a year (maybe two) then stick with the higher premium and lower deductible plan.

The reason is the until you build up enough money in your HSA to cover the higher out of pocket costs you are saving no money. At that same time, you are taking the risk of having to pay out more money if you go to the hospital. Once you pass 55, it's not completely unreasonable to have a hospital visit every three years or so and the risks get worse as your age increases.

HSA's are a scam.