We're heading off-topic, so I'll put in a quick statement to OP: I agree with all others - getting such a low deductible/OOP will cost you heavily in premiums.
My recommendation is to use insurance for what its primary purpose should be - to provide a backstop if you (or your GF, in this case) get unlucky, and end up having really large medical expenses. To figure out which insurance plan to get, figure out what the highest out of pocket (OOP) number is that you can afford without having the amount be "life changing." Then see how much cheaper the premiums are.
The Obamacare incentives change the equation a bit, but in general you'll find that if you go a few (2-3) years without a major expense, you'll be ahead with the plan with higher limits. This is true of almost any insurance - if you can afford to take a loss, you'll be better off self-insuring (the insurance companies, after all, have to make a profit somehow). The place you want insurance is where the losses will have a potentially catastrophic effect on your finances.
Now to respond to the previous two posters on medical costs:
The articles referenced do state some really good reasons why medical costs are high in our country, but in my opinion miss the mark on a comprehensive view of the problem.
The real issue, again in my opinion, is systemic - the entire way medical care is delivered is to some degree broken in this country. Here's why:
- Pricing is neither transparent nor determined by the consumers of care (us) - instead it's a complex system using Medicare prices as a baseline and then negotiated between insurance carriers and providers (doctors and hospitals). Neither party is powerless in this negotiation (contrary to the quote in MDM's article) - you'll find that both sides try to vilify the other, with providers saying the insurance companies are getting larger and larger and negotiating tighter and tighter prices, and the insurance companies saying the providers are getting bigger and negotiating higher prices.
- The real issue is that this is so much noise - neither party has a really strong interest in low prices. The insurance carriers make money by simply being good at predicting how much care their insured population is going to require and then charging a little more in premiums. Effectively they're getting a piece of the healthcare pie. So what happens if healthcare costs (as a whole) go up? The whole pie gets bigger, as does the insurance companies' slice.
- The other culprit is the consumer. For so long, a large portion of healthcare consumers has had rich plans provided by employers. Where the actual healthcare costs the consumers incurred might have been in the thousands of dollars, our out of pocket costs were comparatively miniscule (a tenth or less). Premiums were picked up by employers - so there was no perceived cost to this benefit. So where is the incentive to pick the provider and choose the care that costs the least? As a result, we let the system grow into what it is today.
The current trend of HDHPs (often called consumer-driven health plans) and more "cost-sharing" between employers and employees is going to slowly change this picture. But in the meantime, there will be a lot of pain and teeth-gnashing as the inefficiencies in the system get unravelled.
(BTW: there's a lot more to this - the main caution I'd apply is to view with skepticism any message which leaves anyone blameless - we're all to blame).