Drop down options:

1. Neither she broke even, No, Yes

2. more than, the same as, less than

3. her employer only contributes to premiums, the more premium her employer pays the more coverage there is, the more premium her employer pays, the less coverage there is

Ch 09: Assignment - Insuring Your Health 2. Benefit of health insurance - A cautionary tale In 2016, Kyoko became responsible for providing her own health insurance. She obtained suitable coverage and paid annual premiums as shown in the following table. Compute Kyoko's total premiums: $4,479 4,704 Kyoko's Premiums 2016 2017 2018 2019 Total 4,824 5,049 Except for an occasional minor illness requiring a doctor's attention, a drug prescription, and periodic, routine tests, Kyoko enjoyed good health during those years. Because she had no reason to think that would change, by the end of 2018, Kyoko was considering dropping her health insurance coverage. After all, she could think of a lot of other uses for the thousands of dollars she spent each year on increasing premiums. Kyoko decided to pay premiums for another year but planned to take another look at her health care plan at the end of 2019. It Could Happen to You, It Could Happen to Me In December 2019, Kyoko accepted an invitation from friends to go snowboarding. Kyoko did everything right: took a lesson, stayed on trails well within her skill level, and maintained an awareness of people and objects near her. Even though she thought it was a bit dorky to wear wrist guards and a helmet, her friends insisted that she take standard and reasonable safety measures. Kyoko was enjoying the day when, from out of nowhere (actually, the woods), came an out of control skier who ran into Kyoko. Kyoko was injured and taken to the nearest hospital by ambulance. Kyoko's injuries included a broken wrist and elbow as well as cuts and bruises. Of biggest concern was the uncertainty of her head injury. Kyoko spent a couple of days in intensive care. Fortunately, she didn't have a broken skull, but did have a concussion. Surgery was performed to repair the broken wrist and elbow. Since Kyoko was in good health, her recovery was complete. Kyoko returned to full function in about six months. Soon after Kyoko returned home, however, the medical bills for the ambulance, emergency room, intensive care, medications, doctors, tests, and other services arrived. Kyoko also had to have physical therapy for her wrist and elbow. Her total medical expenses were $35,000. It was time to find out if all those premiums paid since 2016 would pay off for just one, albeit dramatic, incident. % of the expenses, or Overall, Kyoko's insurance paid 80% of the total medical expenses, thus making her responsible for $ . Kyoko's insurance paid $ . Her out-of-pocket expenses for the accident of $ plus the 2019 insurance premiums of $ totaled S . In this If Kyoko had canceled her health insurance at the end of 2018, her out-of-pocket expenses for the accident would have been $ case, did Kyoko benefit from having health insurance? What are reasonable morals of the story? Check all that apply. Never leave the house. Think long and hard about the best tradeoff of coverage and cost in a health care plan. Your health can change in an instant. Don't get sick. Avoid engaging in physical activity. Some employers pay part or all of the health insurance premiums for employees who are enrolled in one of the company's sponsored plans. Assume that during the same time period that Kyoko paid for her premiums in full that she had, instead, worked for a firm that paid 50% of her premiums for the same coverage. Instead of paying premiums of S over the years, Kyoko would have paid $ and saved In this case, Kyoko's out-of-pocket expenses specific to her snowboarding accident would have been they actually were because