By the end of 2025, Eva Moreno-Guerrero paid around $15,000 in health insurance premiums to Cigna. After she calculated her family’s expenses – the premiums taken out of her paychecks, copays for doctor visits, out-of-pocket costs because she didn’t meet her deductible – she decided her employer’s health insurance plan was no longer worth it.
The Horizon City resident canceled her plan, which included her husband and two dependent children. Moreno-Guerrero said staying on the same plan would have cost more than $17,000 this year by her calculations. It would be cheaper to pay out of pocket and go to Ciudad Juárez for medical care.
“I’m a bargain shopper, period,” she said. “Was a single mom for a while. I still have groceries, car payments. With groceries going up, it’s going to be brutal. I decided this year we would do without.”…