1. TOTAL ANNUAL COST, THREE SCENARIOS Annual premiums: Plan A $1,140. Plan B $3,720. Premium difference alone: $2,580 in Plan A's favor before any care is used. Scenario A, the low year — preventive care only, which is covered at no cost on both plans under standard preventive rules: Plan A: $1,140. Plan B: $3,720. Scenario B, the expected year — one physical, which is preventive and free on both, plus one urgent care visit. Assume $250 for urgent care. Plan A: $1,140 premium + $250 toward the deductible, since nothing is covered before the deductible on an HDHP other than preventive care = $1,390. Plan B: $3,720 premium + urgent care copay, which is typically the specialist-level copay of $60, or the $250 applied to the deductible if urgent care is not a copay service. Taking the less favorable reading for Plan A, use $60 = $3,780. Scenario C, the bad year — a serious accident or diagnosis pushes spending to the out-of-pocket maximum: Plan A: $1,140 + $5,000 = $6,140. Plan B: $3,720 + $3,500 = $7,220. Note what that last line says: Plan A is cheaper even in its own worst case, by roughly $1,080. That is unusual and it makes this decision much simpler than most. The premium gap is so large that Plan B never catches up. 2. THE HSA ADJUSTMENT Plan A is HSA-eligible and Plan B is not. Employer contribution: $1,000 deposited into your account. Treat this as a direct reduction of Plan A's cost, because it is money that only exists if you choose Plan A. Tax benefit: at a combined 27 percent marginal rate, every dollar you contribute to the HSA saves 27 cents in tax. If you contribute enough to cover the $3,200 deductible, the tax saving is roughly $864. HSA contributions also avoid payroll tax when made through payroll deduction, which adds roughly 7.65 percent, so the real saving is larger; I have not included that because I do not know whether your employer offers payroll deduction. Ask. Adjusted expected-year cost for Plan A: $1,390 minus the $1,000 employer contribution = $390 net, against Plan B's $3,780. And the HSA money you do not spend stays yours permanently, unlike a flexible spending account, which is use-it-or-lose-it. 3. BREAK-EVEN ANALYSIS The plans converge only in the region above Plan A's deductible. Working it through: Plan B's premium advantage never materializes because it has no premium advantage. Plan A costs $2,580 less in premiums and gives $1,000 in HSA money, a $3,580 head start. Plan B's lower deductible saves at most $2,450, and its lower out-of-pocket maximum saves at most $1,500. Even stacking both maximum advantages, Plan B cannot close a $3,580 gap. There is no break-even point. Plan A wins at every level of medical spending from zero to catastrophic. This is the rare case where the answer does not depend on your usage estimate at all, which means you do not need to predict your year correctly to make the right choice. 4. NETWORK AND FORMULARY CHECK I cannot look up network status; you must verify these on the insurer's own directory for the coming plan year, not the current year, since networks change at renewal. - Westside Family Medicine: confirm the practice and your specific doctor are in network on both plans. Search by the individual physician's name, not just the practice, since practices sometimes contract selectively. - No prescriptions to check, which removes the most common source of surprise cost. - Check which urgent care and emergency facilities near you are in network on Plan A, since with a $3,200 deductible you will be paying those bills directly and the negotiated in-network rate is what protects you. - Confirm whether Plan A is a true high deductible health plan as defined for HSA eligibility. The plan is described as HSA-eligible, which implies yes, but confirm on the summary of benefits and coverage. 5. RECOMMENDATION Plan A, the high deductible health plan. It is cheaper in the good year, cheaper in the expected year, and cheaper in the worst case. It also comes with $1,000 of employer money and a tax-advantaged account you keep permanently. The usual argument against an HDHP is that a $3,200 deductible is unaffordable in a bad year, which converts a cost problem into a care-avoidance problem. That argument does not apply here: you have $9,000 in savings and said you could cover the deductible without borrowing. That is the fact that makes this straightforward. What would change the answer: a planned procedure, a pregnancy, or a new chronic diagnosis would move you into heavy usage. Even then Plan A still wins on these numbers, but the cash-flow timing gets harder, since HDHP costs land as large bills early in the year rather than spread across premiums. 6. WHAT TO DO BEFORE THE DEADLINE - Verify Westside Family Medicine and your specific physician on the Plan A network directory for the coming plan year. - Elect Plan A and open the HSA. The employer contribution usually requires the account to be open; do not assume it lands automatically. - Ask whether HSA contributions can be made by payroll deduction. That adds roughly 7.65 percent in payroll tax savings over contributing directly. - Set your HSA contribution to at least $3,200, the deductible amount, if cash flow allows. Front-loading early in the year is worth doing if you can, since that is when an unexpected bill would hit. - Do not also elect a general-purpose health flexible spending account. It makes you ineligible to contribute to an HSA. A limited-purpose dental and vision FSA is compatible if offered. - Save the summary of benefits and coverage document for your records.