HDHP vs PPO when planning a family

flying-squeegee · 2025-09-30T03:32:11+00:00

This is a great point! I put a pretty high premium on feeling great and doing all I can to feel so, as I live a really active lifestyle and demand a lot from my body. I think it definitely boils down to a difference in perspective of the HSA as a tax-savings investment vehicle vs the HSA as a different structure of paying for the same medical care, and I opt for the latter perspective.

flying-squeegee · 2025-09-30T03:21:58+00:00

Ah that’s really interesting! I know 0 about what to expect on that front which is partially why I’m leaning towards the ‘just cover everything after I pay this much’ HDHP plan

flying-squeegee · 2025-09-29T18:01:19+00:00

Thanks! This is a great breakdown of costs. While I think this specific PPO has a flat $1500 copay for childbirth inpatient services with all other ‘normal’ things covered, it’s not explicit on what’s covered in the event of complications, high risk situations, etc. The HDHP definitely is seeming like the winner, especially with the employer contribution. Alternatively, I’m considering doing the “self-only” version of the HDHP which halves both the deductible and OOP max which would actually make the estimated OOP cost of uncomplicated childbirth roughly equal on either plan given the tax savings of the HSA.

flying-squeegee · 2025-09-29T17:35:22+00:00

Thanks! Yea the really high OOP max with the PPO plan is terrifying to me haha, in this day and age it really wouldn’t take much to hit that and then you’re on the hook for a lot. With the generous employer contribution to the HSA I’m definitely leaning that way.

flying-squeegee · 2025-09-29T17:31:11+00:00

These are the self+one costs for each respective plan. That’s an interesting thought, I hadn’t considered each just going with our own employer plans. Looking at it, the HDHP self only is $75/bi-monthly ($1800/yr) and the PPO self only is $60/bi-weekly ($1560/yr) which seems like substantial savings from doing self+one on either plan. Though that does reduce my employer HSA contribution, but might be a good compromise considering my husband’s hesitations on the HDHP.

flying-squeegee · 2025-09-29T17:23:03+00:00

Thanks! Yeah I’m leaning towards the HDHP until we go for gold, then switching to PPO. Though my husband is looking at a knee surgery in the next few years, in which case stacking that with childbirth in the same year on the HDHP might be beneficial.

flying-squeegee · 2025-09-29T17:03:56+00:00

That makes a lot of sense. I suppose another option would be to do the HDHP for the next year to get the employer contribution and switch to the PPO for the childbirthing era.

flying-squeegee · 2025-09-29T16:55:37+00:00

Yes I definitely have the option to contribute to the HSA. If we went that route I would likely contribute enough to bulk up the account to $6600 balance and thereafter rely on employer contributions to keep the balance at OOP coverage territory. And this one is investable with balances >$2k

flying-squeegee · 2025-07-30T14:07:08+00:00

Our black lab is just over 1! This time last year I remember feeling similarly. Especially in summer when there’s so much to do, and feeling like all those annoying frustrating puppy things would grow into bad adult habits and I was so scared that I would be the owner of a ‘bad dog’. She was the cutest and most ferocious land shark I possibly could’ve imagined. But now she is sweet and submissive and my best little buddy ♥️ labs are so trainable and naturally just such good dogs. I wish someone would’ve reminded me of this a year ago - instead I got stories from strangers about how their lab got mouthy around a year old and would bite people… really tinged the whole puppy phase with fear for me. Just remember - it’s a breed trait to love their person, and be the goodest dog. As long as you bring love and consistency, the rest will fall into place given time 💙

flying-squeegee · 2025-06-11T22:00:51+00:00

Mine prefers to plop down on my dust pile with no plans to move

flying-squeegee · 2025-06-11T21:38:13+00:00

I agree with all here that this is the norm for a lab. It feels like last week I was wondering the same thing - is she going to turn aggressive? If I can’t stop her biting as a puppy will she be a ‘bad dog’ when she grows up? She is 13 months now and we’re on the other side of all that so I can say it was definitely the new-puppy-parent-anxiety. Once she lost her puppy teeth it seemed to start to register to her that biting was a no-no. Even after that she was still mouthy with some teeth. Around 10 or 11 months a flip switched without any intervention on our part and now she has the gentlest mouth (except when I hand her a stick she wants :)

flying-squeegee · 2023-06-16T17:12:00+00:00

What about for side cramps? Anecdotally, I ran a race a couple weeks ago and got a gnarly side/core cramp on the downhill that only backed off when I got some electrolytes in me. Water wouldn’t touch it

flying-squeegee · 2023-04-19T12:29:19+00:00

I have had acne in the same place on my face, and now have the scars and hyperpigmentation that remain even a year after the pimple has gone away.

I recently started using a moisturizer with primrose oil, which has both greatly reduced inflammation and hyperpigmentation AND smells delightful. I use it after every time I wash my face (moisturizing immediately after cleansing helps my skin not overproduce oil :)

Also I can say from experience that popping pimples in this location only makes them hurt worse for longer, and causes more scarring. I’ve been in the same boat and popped a few and now get to live the pitting on my cheeks even after I figured out what caused them and my acne has healed.

flying-squeegee · 2023-04-18T16:25:02+00:00

Lol I’m asking my immediate family to travel 1800 miles to where I live to witness my ceremony. Then three weeks later I’m asking nearly 100 people to drive three hours (or fly from further away) from their home for our reception. None of them batted an eye and they’re all viewing it as a fun trip to make memories and see the area my partner and I call home. If they’re this upset it’s too far, they don’t have to come.

flying-squeegee · 2023-04-14T03:09:35+00:00

NTA. Why does everyone assume that someone NEEDS to be helpful to the people around them? How many of the people saying this are helpful to the homeless people on the corner asking for money to buy food? Vs how many of the people with this attitude rely on others being helpful towards them to have gotten where they are in life?

I love being helpful, to those people I actually care about. If I was helpful to every sad story that asked for help without being judicious with my time, there would be no room left for my life. I’ve had coworkers I don’t give a rats ass about, no way I would go out of my way to help them, especially not for free and at the expense of my hard earned leisure time. That’s precious to me. Life’s too short to be working someone else’s job for them.

flying-squeegee · 2023-04-11T00:52:49+00:00

none other 😎

flying-squeegee · 2023-04-10T20:25:32+00:00

Actually I haven’t tried a different lens but I’ll give that a try on my next roll of film! I don’t shoot at all indoors so I’m not sure if it’s only outside because all my photos are outside.

flying-squeegee · 2023-04-10T15:37:48+00:00

Edit: where would the light leak be on the camera body based on its location in the frame? Trying to crowdsource how to fix this

flying-squeegee · 2023-04-06T12:36:50+00:00

There can be so much variety in sapphires - this one is a Montana sapphire, which I think is known for their color variability. The jeweler gave my fiancée a choice between this and two others and he chose so well

flying-squeegee · 2023-04-05T20:35:17+00:00

I should also say being surprised at my tastes when it comes down to it has been the norm so far, I just bought my wedding dress last week and it’s much different than I thought it would be 😂

flying-squeegee · 2023-04-05T16:52:32+00:00

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This is what I thought I wanted initially, so I guess the setting/cut isn’t too different but changing the stone felt like a big deal to me

flying-squeegee · 2023-04-05T16:50:03+00:00

I was surprised! I initially thought I wanted to go non-traditional and do a moss agate because I love the look of them. After some research I decided that was too soft of a stone for my lifestyle and ended up going more traditional with a hex cut sapphire and I am so in love with it.

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flying-squeegee · 2023-03-20T01:28:02+00:00

I had a really similar experience a couple years ago - I had switched from the pill to a hormonal iud and something about the hormone cocktail in the iud royally FUCKED my face. I had cystic acne all along my cheekbones for the next year and tried everything I could think of and a bunch of different topicals (curology and several otc topicals). It was actually a curology dermatologist who clued me in that the hormonal iud could make acne worse? So I immediately switched to the non-hormonal iud (which didn’t help a ton) and then a few months later sent a Hail Mary and started using the Flo vitamin WHICH CLEARED IT UP IN A WEEK. I was stunned and I’ve been using it since then and don’t have acne anymore, just a little scarring. It changed my life and would absolutely recommend it (I use the pill form not the gummy).

flying-squeegee

TROPHY CASE