OP, if you have a "normal" insurance plan available to you, why not run the numbers to see if it would be better? I've done that, and for our stuff (DS and I rarely see anyone but chiropractor or acupuncturist, DH sees an endocrinologist and takes a drug that's $48 per pill out of pocket (when the insurance company can't figure out that switching from Walgreens to mail order means there's going to be an extra bit of prescription and they say "doesn't matter if there are two separate prescriptions, we'll only pay x every 3 months...and then they reimbursed us, LOL) along with occasional refills of blood sugar testing stuff.
HD vs PPO is generally about a wash. The 3K OOP plus the lowered premiums generally come out to higher premiums and lower deductible. For us and the plans available to us at least. We don't do the HD anymore because it *feels* more annoying.
We always have them bill insurance. To meet our deductable we only pay what the insurance company would pay.
You sort of have to do that, so that the cost "counts" towards your deductible.
For those of you with migraines, in case you haven't explored this...DH would tell you to find a really gentle chiropractor, one doing Network Spinal Analysis or BGI, and give them a solid try. He had NASTY migraines all his life (as did his dad, and DS is prone to what might be diagnosed as a migraine except they don't last long enough for us to bother with a diagnosis), and then within a year of meeting me (retired chiropractor) and receiving chiro care, he almost *never* gets them anymore. Just asked him, and he would get them once or twice a week from young childhood to 12, then from 20 until after we met (met at 28). They started slowing down within the year of meeting, and now it's *maybe* once a year, IF that, and we aren't sure of that b/c we don't even remember the last time he had one.
Gentle chiropractic, and you could also try acupuncture. Both can have great results with migraines. I highly recommend giving them a very solid try.
