High deductible health plans (HDHP), most with HSAs offered, are becoming the norm everywhere – not just at CPA firms. My last employer – international company with 14,000+ employees – did away with their last low deductible plan during the time that I was there. I'm not sure what you consider “crazy”, so not sure how this will compare, but to give you some context, I work at a small nonprofit college. Generally nonprofit college jobs like this are considered to have good benefits and lousy pay. I know my boss has said many times when we were in the hiring process that benefits were a big part of how we get people. Of course these benefits include more than health insurance – things like free school, nearly 2 weeks off at Christmas, 12 sick days a year, plus vacation and other holidays etc. But still, point is, benefits are supposed to be fairly good here. We offer 2 health insurance plans: one has a $3,000 deductible with an HSA that the employer contributes $100/yr into, and one has a $3,000 deductible with an FSA and some sort of arrangement where if you exceed $x,xxx of your deductible then the employer pays the next $500 or something like that, but I'm not positive on the details. I have the HSA version.
A $3,000 deductible might sound like heaven to you or might count in the high deductibles range, don't know for sure. It is considered a high deductible officially. For people without chronic health problems, I think HDHP's can be good, because you can save up your deductible in the HSA with tax advantages and be prepared if anything happens. I don't have huge medical issues, no expensive monthly medications or anything like that, so I've slightly exceeded the $3,000 deductible in my HSA, which means that now I know if I need something done, I can cover it from my HSA and insurance combo. But, if someone has expensive monthly medications or ongoing major medical issues, then HDHP/HSA plans give them some tax advantages, but otherwise cost them quite a bit more than a lower deductible plan.
Anyway, I'm rambling too much, but my point was that HDHP is the way that most employers are going, after the Affordable Care Act. The longer we go into it the fewer low-deductible options are offered by employers.
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