Right, but it's also nuts that a lot of people are on a health insurance plan that encourages avoiding medical care because it offers tax-advantaged investing. You get how that's nuts, right?

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kccqzy 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Exactly. I also think conflating health insurance and investment is a terrible idea. It should just be a simple credit system for accumulating unused deductible.

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whateveracct 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It doesn't seem nuts to me? I have a good emergency fund and a stable job and no big debts (cuz I'm good with money generally), so I can choose to use my health insurance to make a little more money.

That's only fair given all the pre-work I did to set it up for myself.

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BobaFloutist 4 days ago | parent [-]

Of course it's fair, my criticism isn't with your outcome but with designing an insurance plan to work this way.

It's weird to tie your little extra money to your health insurance plan.

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whateveracct 4 days ago | parent [-]

That's why it's not the only option. It's a benefit not a restriction. The powers that be saw an opportunity for insurers to cover less and insurees to leverage that into a different benefit. It's all just about shifting risk around and taking a little off the top.

It's a nice incremental addition to the existing system. Way more feasible than changing the system.

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BobaFloutist 4 days ago | parent [-]

But the additional benefit is a tax benefit, also known as "all the other taxpayers subsidize this behavior"

	▲	whateveracct 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		They're (slightly) subsidizing the fact that I am covering more of my medical expenses out of pocket. Remember it's only tax free if I eventually spend it on health care. Feels like the equivalent of other things we give tax benefits for. Various things for your and your dependents' well being.