When is it worth paying more?

Life Hacking
21

Hitting 3k+ in health costs for multiple years doesn’t sound too healthy to me. If you expect to keep spending this much then sure low deductible is best option for you

In 10 years living here I paid in total maybe 3-4k in doctor bills, most were dentist and not covered by basic insurance. 300 CHF franchise would have meant 15k extra cost with little benefit to me.

Choosing high dedutible plan instead, now I have these extra 15k profit on books that I could splurge however I see fit. It could cover 6 years of paying full 2500 deductibles, or perhpas paying for a couple of cosmetic procedures I always wanted (that KVG will NEVER pay for!)

22

Yeah well don’t judge people by your own circumstances. Some people have health problems and then the 300 CHF is the logical way to go. I also know some girls, especially when they wanted to have kids, that went with the lowest franchise.

23

Kids have 0 deductible or so, it’s not a factor in choosing your adult plan

24

This is a hoax by brand name manufacturers. As it is, virtually all plastics used for sunglases, namely Polycarbonate, PMMA, Polystyrene and Polyamide are UV-Absorbing, so have the “protective” functions built in.
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It actually takes an effort (and cost) to make the plastics transparent to sunlight UV (so they don’t become yellow in sunlight as some cheap knockoff headlamp replacements for cars).

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25

I’m talking about pregnancy

26

Pregnancy is also exempt from deductible for a large range of procedures

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27

The premium difference isn’t that big though. You usually save 1.2k/year if you chose 2500 CHF over 300 CHF franchise. The break-even of medical costs is easy to calculate. If we assume this 1.2k/year difference in health insurance premium, the 300 CHF franchise option is always the cheapest if you have 1’635 CHF/year or more in medical bills. This was always the case for me since 2015. I usually end up with 2-3k medical bills per year, so it’s a no-brainer with the 300 CHF franchise.

28

You seem to have chronic medical problems, so you’re exactly the exception I described in my original post.

Healthy younger adults don’t spend this much and would save money with the highest deductible. Like I said, I have 15k saved this way over the years, which I’m planning to use for some non-KVG approved elective procedures

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29

Could it be worth it to buy high quality leather shoes (350-500CHF) and then resole them every year?

My attempt to crunch some numbers:
Let’s say you pay 450CHF on the shoes and resoling costs about 50CHF.
Let’s say that to wear them for 10 years you also need to spend 50CHF on a repair once and 40CHF on polish and stuff.

A cheap, none-resolable pair of leather shoes will cost you 90CHF and will last for 1.5 years.

The yearly cost would then come down to 60CHF for the cheap shoes and the fancy ones around 100CHF per year.

Quite a difference still but maybe worth it if they look better and/or are more comfortable.

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30

I agree. That’s why there are only 2 reasonable options. If you think that you will end up with medical bills of 1.6k or more on a regular basis, chose 300 CHF, otherwise always 2500 CHF.

You don’t have to worry about my health. It’s because I’m a competitive powerlifter. I need physiotherapy every year and I had 3 MRTs in the last 5 years too. I’m not broken, every sport where you compete on a high level is very taxing on your body, leading to way more health care costs.

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31

I agree, there’s no point in middle options (500…2000 deductible). Variability in costs is too high to choose an optimal point in the middle. If you don’t spend a lot, you’ll do better with highest deductible

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32

Hey, it was a Sunrise offer around 01-Aug.
Keep a lookout, it might come up again. Worth checking the Sunrise home page on a daily basis.

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33

That’s what I do.

My oldest pair of shoes are Heinrich Dinkelacker. I bought them almost 20 years ago. Get them resoled early enough (I take them to Huwyler, they know what they do), treat them well (I use Burgol to wax them) —they last a lifetime.

Another nice thing: if you know what last fits you, you can start looking for them online and save some more money.

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34

Talking about sunglasses.

I absolutely love decathlon. I usually don’t mind getting the most expensive model available at decathlon. E.g. a kayak paddle weighing some 900g for about 100€. I usually get a top quality product for a decent price

However I got two decathlon sunglasses for 15-20 CHF. Both got stains in the field of sight (ground contact, harsh treatment) and I will go for a 60-80 CHF model now

35

As far as health insurance goes, it often works out cheaper to use a 2.5k deductible for mandatory insurance and then get supplementary insurance which covers health checkups without a deductible.

As far as consumer goods go, my philosophy is to buy few things but good things, take good care of them, and use them as long as possible. I feel that approach delivers better value because pschologically we humans are inclined to value things which cost us a lot and not value things which don’t cost us much. For example, I feel I’m less likely to take good care of a pair of sunglasses which I received as a free handout than the same pair of sunglasses which cost me money. It isn’t logical, but it is there. You also value things which you actually want more than things which you settle for. So paying more for exactly what I want generally gives me better value over the long term.

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36

My glasses usually cost around 500-600 CHF (with the correction lenses being the expensive part, anti-reflective stuff & co) and I wear them usually for 4 years. Never lost or destroyed them.

I also happily paid a lot for my Tesla Model S because it’s one of the safest cars in the world and protecting me and my family in an eventual car accident is priceless.

Also my suit was somewhere around 2k CHF when I bought/got it with 20 and still wear it today (13 years later) (on irregular occasions obviously, not like I have a dress code while working from home xD).

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37

This is (under some assumption) total expenses based on total bills with a deductible of 300 or 2500.

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In the end it is an irrelevant discussion, there are ~500 CHF at stake each year. Unless you’re extremely healthy, the biggest difference is in the leftmost part of the graph. If you spend less than 500 CHF/Year, you save >1k/Year if you choose a 2500 CHF deductible.

Mind that - contrary to everything you read online - you can pick an intermediate deductible and minimize this volatility

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38

I don’t mind paying for the following things:

Vacations: For me vacations are experiences and adventures. I am not so much into spending money at a high end hotel just because it’s a high end hotel. However, I will gladly drop 500 chf a night for staying at unique locations which give me unique experiences. For example, an eco lodge ran by indigenous people deep in amazonian rain forest or Serengeti. Basically, my vacations tend to be in wilderness with the mindfulness that my money is also helping save the location. But this does not always need to cost a lot.

Restaurants: Unique locations, service, tasting menus. We prefer to go to one good restaurant every three months than 3 average restaurants in a month.

Complimentary health insurance: We have done our research and thought about what are the most important things for us. So, no options for alternative medicines (as we don’t believe in it), but options for global coverage and private accommodations.

Apartment: To be honest, we are lucky and have a great apartment for a very cheap price. But we would spend more otherwise.

Moving: Already stressful enough, so if we move, we hire the cleaners and the movers.

Family and friends: making sure they have a good time when they visit

Gardening: okay this not the most expensive thing in the world but each summer, we turn our balcony into a small farm forest and this takes some investments. If we ever get a proper house, then this will cost even more. But it is totally worth it for us.

Fitness/health: No point in being well off, if we are not going to be healthy. Also, health investments now will hopefully lower lifetime medical costs.

Things we have considered but not gone for yet:

Cleaning person: could be a big jump in our quality of life based on friends who do have one. But, we feel like we still have enough extra time. Maybe if we started a side gig, we will revisit this.

Flying first class: Ethical and financial reasons makes this not compelling. But boy, it would sure be nice to actually be able to sleep on an overnight flight. But then again, being able to fly at all would be a luxury right not.

Airport lounge: This might be a cheaper way to make flying more comfortable. Atleast in certain situations. I definitely regret not doing this at times.

Things we regret spending money on:

Cheap clothes: Stuff that falls apart within a year.

Too many clothes: This happened in the past. I definitely want to improve on this further.

New cheap furniture: we go second hand or buy higher quality new furniture.

Stuff in general: Gadgets, random souvenirs, etc. No more.

Expensive phones: Now I buy a low end, one generation old phone every 4 years. Always feels like an upgrade. I don’t even read about the new features on high end phones.

In general, for us it’s worth spending if it gives good value.

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39

Are you talking about health insurance?
In about 2 years without using you have win ~2500.- needed the day when you are really sick but take much more time for other.

300.- should be removed and increased to 500/700. People can spend 60.-/month for a smartphone so ~720.-/year so they can pay 500.- or more for their health. Reduce health abuse and cost for everyone. People who can’t pay this amount have already help so change nothing.

40

You really fly first class? These tickets cost crazy money.

Agree, I have a hard time finding clothes because I only want to buy them if I’m sure I will wear them. And boy, how I hate to get clothes as a gift!

In a way I agree. On the other hand I think the health insurance should take more responsibility for the wellbeing of their patient. If they save 1000 per year on their client, but because of this he will need a surgery for 100’000, because he didn’t do a health check, then it’s not ideal. I think the insurance firm should be incentivized to keep their clients in good health. Then both parties have the same goal.

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