<prompt> Human: Hi PF!! Long time lurker first time poster...and I desperately need some help, were drowning and confused! The current issue, as Im sure it is for many others is open enrollment; Ive never been able to figure this out, and enough is enough!!! Heres our situation: Emergency savings funded for 1 year of current average monthly expenditure. Asides from that pretty much only saving, on average, 200 6K post-tax month; budgeted as tight as we can get it, helping to support parents, wife is a stay at home mom, live in Boston. 37 yo healthy male, 38 yo healthy female, 2 yr old kid rough birth, needed a helmet, had torticollis, had a dislocated hip, a cleft palate scare and a lot of physical therapy, but is now fit as a fiddle. No expected major medical costs, but I guess you never know right? Was on a traditional PPO for the past 2 years where I was paying 350month 4500 yr and we had an insurance liability of 3k, and I paid out around 15K for dental bills all claims rejected by dental insurance...yay!. 2018 Info: Traditional PPO premium: 370month High Deductible PPO premium: 130month Difference: 240 month; 2880 yr Traditional PPO deductible: 1.5k in-network; 3K out-of-network High Deductible PPO deductible: 4k in-network; 8K out-of-network Difference: 2.5K in-network; 5K out-of-network Employer HAS contribution: 1.5K half in Jan, half in June I get that this is a risk vs savings decision, but I cant get my head around either the numbers or our risk assessment.Thank you PF!!!  <response>: The other big piece of information you need to look at in order to accurately assess this is the copaycoinsurance difference. Traditional PPOs usually have a copay for things like office visits, while HD plans are all out-of-pocket until the deductible is hit, then it is a coinsurance after. You need to take that into account when looking at your anticipated medical expenses for a year, as certain things will go towards the deductible, and the price you pay after deductible may be different.Based on the info you provided, though, I would say the HD plan is better, as all other things being equal you are looking at around a savings of 1880 a year. 