{"id":8110,"date":"2026-04-21T11:27:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T11:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/?p=8110"},"modified":"2026-04-21T14:13:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T14:13:01","slug":"listen-cheap-health-insurance-isnt-always-cheap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/?p=8110","title":{"rendered":"Listen: Cheap Health Insurance Isn\u2019t Always Cheap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<p class=\"meta\"><span class=\"byline\"><br \/>\nBy <strong>Jackie Forti\u00e9r<\/strong> <\/span><br \/>\n<time class=\"posted-on\" datetime=\"2026-04-21T05:00:00-04:00\"><br \/>\nApril 21, 2026 <\/time><\/p>\n<p><label class=\"screen-reader-text\" for=\"republish-content\"><br \/>\nArticle HTML <\/label><br \/>\n<textarea id=\"republish-content\" class=\"form-control\" rows=\"5\">&lt;br \/&gt;<br \/>\n\t&lt;span class=&#8221;byline&#8221;&gt;Jackie Forti\u00e9r&lt;\/span&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;<br \/>\n&lt;p&gt;High-deductible plans can look like a deal, until the bills start rolling in. On this episode of the NPR podcast &lt;em&gt;Life Kit&lt;\/em&gt;, reporter Jackie Forti\u00e9r breaks down what to expect and how to prepare.&lt;\/p&gt;<br \/>\n&lt;p&gt;A lot of people choose their health insurance the way they shop for a flight \u2014 sort by the lowest price and click \u201cbuy.\u201d But what looks like a bargain upfront can come with costly consequences later.&lt;\/p&gt;<br \/>\n&lt;p&gt;After some federal financial aid expired, many Americans found that high-deductible health plans were the only option they could afford.&lt;\/p&gt;<br \/>\n&lt;p&gt;In a new episode of NPR\u2019s &lt;em&gt;Life Kit&lt;\/em&gt; podcast, KFF Health News reporter Jackie Forti\u00e9r and podcast host Marielle Segarra discuss what these plans are, and why they can feel so confusing. Imagine paying $100 out-of-pocket for a routine doctor visit that used to cost you $20. Imagine shouldering thousands of dollars in bills before your insurance pays a cent.&lt;\/p&gt;<br \/>\n&lt;p&gt;Still, for some people \u2014 especially those who rarely need medical care \u2014 high-deductible plans work. Listen to the episode to explore how timing your care and taking advantage of free preventive services can help you make the most of your coverage.&lt;\/p&gt;<br \/>\n&lt;p&gt;<\/textarea><br \/>\n<button class=\"btn btn-secondary btn-sm copy-btn\" type=\"button\" data-clipboard-target=\"#republish-content\">Copy HTML<\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"modal-details\">\n<p>We encourage organizations to republish our content, free of charge. Here\u2019s what we ask:<\/p>\n<p>You must credit us as the original publisher, with a hyperlink to our kffhealthnews.org site. If possible, please include the original author(s) and KFF Health News\u201d in the byline. Please preserve the hyperlinks in the story.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s important to note, not everything on kffhealthnews.org is available for republishing. If a story is labeled \u201cAll Rights Reserved,\u201d we cannot grant permission to republish that item.<\/p>\n<p>Have questions? Let us know at KHNHelp@kff.org<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n#Listen #Cheap #Health #Insurance #Isnt #Cheap<br \/>\nListen: Cheap Health Insurance Isn\u2019t Always Cheap<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jackie Forti\u00e9r April 21, 2026 Article HTML &lt;br \/&gt; &lt;span class=&#8221;byline&#8221;&gt;Jackie Forti\u00e9r&lt;\/span&gt;&lt;\/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;High-deductible plans can look like a deal, until the bills start rolling in. On this episode of the NPR podcast &lt;em&gt;Life Kit&lt;\/em&gt;, reporter Jackie Forti\u00e9r breaks down what to expect and how to prepare.&lt;\/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;A lot of people choose their health insurance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2660,2657,2327,2664,2568,2658,2663,2662,2659,2661],"class_list":{"0":"post-8110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthy","8":"tag-financial-planning","9":"tag-hdhp","10":"tag-health-insurance-2026","11":"tag-health-literacy","12":"tag-healthcare-finance","13":"tag-high-deductible-plans","14":"tag-medical-billing","15":"tag-npr-life-kit","16":"tag-out-of-pocket-costs","17":"tag-preventive-care"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8124,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8110\/revisions\/8124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.healthoptibody.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}