Sure, but there also are expenses that end up not counting toward the deductible. If something "isn't covered" by the plan, then it doesn't count. You can easily end up in a situation where you'll need to see less experienced or capable doctors due to the network, or where something you need is totally excluded, excluded in practice due to certain narrow shortages, or just gated by step therapy where you'll need to go through multiple cheap drugs before having the more expensive drug that is best suited to your condition, even if doing this is expected to result in poorer long-term health.

Of course, these things aren't exclusive to the cheap plans, but I'd encourage you to compare your employer's plans to some of the marketplace ones.