Is Health Insurance Really Necessary?

[joscar]

@verbum Unfortunately all I’ve been able to get from that new law is a list of the fake billed prices

 

[verbum]

@joscar You seem wildly uninformed about CMS role (and absolute power) in hospital billing. I'll let you come to your own conclusion. Have a good day.

Good fucking lord. It's YOU. AGAIN. Get a life and enjoy your block. Go touch some grass.

 

[wolfman64]

@verbum The question was “Is health insurance really necessary?” The unequivocal answer is yes. Not just because cancer or accidents or heart attacks, but also because of the chronic stuff like Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes or asthma or a zillion others that cost a fortune not once or twice a year or for a certain period of time, but ongoing, daily, forever, expensive and life saving.

The US healthcare system is unquestionably an abomination, the most immoral and disgusting exercise of conscience-less greed and depravity in existence. It’s disgusting. It is. But here is the unvarnished and ugly truth: Without insurance, you or your spouse or your child will get care for their condition, which your cost comparisons and Google research show. But only to a point. Not only will our healthcare system drive you into insurmountable debt and bankruptcy, but it will let you or your uninsured family member die when caring for them becomes a big enough financial loss. Make no mistake: healthcare in the USA is a for-profit business. It’s not a charity, it’s not a philanthropy, it’s not a higher calling. It’s a for-profit business that exists to make a profit. It will provide care to a point, but at a certain point, you or your loved one can easily become an unsustainable business loss to them, and they will let you or your child or your parent or spouse die.

You’re in a horrible and truly unenviable position, and I wish I had some useful and actionable advice for you. But all I can advise is to find a job that offers insurance and don’t go for the cheapest; go for the best. That, or relocate to a country with a good national healthcare system (something I’ve considered doing). Because the answer to your question is yes, health insurance is absolutely necessary.

 

[davidstotler]

@wolfman64 This should be given to every person who chooses not to have health insurance because “I hardly ever get sick.”

 

[stggrant]

@davidstotler I know people who say the same thing "I hardly ever get sick" who don't support single-payer health care and then go on about why should they be responsible for other peoples poor health decisions.

I am an a*sshole and I don't even think that.

 

[davidstotler]

@stggrant Here’s another thing people like that don’t consider: you’re going to be responsible for their poor health decisions whether you like it or not because people go utterly broke paying for healthcare and when they run out of money, guess who pays for their hospitalization, ER visits, and nursing home care? Higher costs to people who can pay, Medicaid, “state sponsored” healthcare, we pay for all of that. If people had easily accessible preventative care and got treatment early in a disease process, we’d all save money in the long run.

 

[verbum]

@wolfman64 This answer was very thorough and thoughtful. You make some excellent points. Thank you for taking time to respond!

 

[meliorakos]

@verbum I mean.. at least get insurance for your kids..

 

[verbum]

@meliorakos I will. In November. Silly goose.

 

[trustinggod]

@verbum Great. But what's your plan if your kid breaks a bone over summer vacation? Or gets run over by an uninsured driver? What if your family gets hit by a drunk and uninsured driver tomorrow? What if your kid wakes up on Halloween with appendicitis?

 

[verbum]

@trustinggod What do you suggest with no "qualifying life event"?

 

[broandrew]

@verbum Just don't leave your house till November

 

[verbum]

@broandrew Ahhh yes. Because mental health tanking is an excellent solution to healthcare. Silly goose.

 

[broandrew]

@verbum I'm not a goose. Stop calling people a goose.

 

[christof]

@verbum Insurance is always worth it. You never know when you’re going to get into an accident.

 

[brave_heart]

@christof I was thinking the same thing! It's like getting the more expensive accident policy for car insurance. You don't plan to get into a car wreck and total your car, but it does happen. Can speak from experience from both ends of those spectrums, i.e. no accident policy totaled car and with an accident policy and still totaled car. Same thing with health insurance.

 

[joscar]

@brave_heart The difference is with healthcare costs there's no upper limit. I felt perfectly fine driving my older beater pickup with liability-only because I only paid $2500 for it. I paid about $30k for my brand new truck while my health expenses over the past year or so are probably approaching $500k.

 

[goldenrevelation]

@verbum $450 a month for your whole family? That's cheap for insurance, why would you not? I pay $400 just for myself, one single person with no pre-existing conditions. My deductible is $6000, and I recently priced out the cash pay price for a minor surgery versus my deductible and it was the exact same. Hard pill to swallow, BUT...the price of prescription meds alone is enough to stop me from going without insurance. It's ridiculous and not right, but it is what it is here. I have three prescription meds and without insurance it would cost me more than the $400/month I pay for it.

The insurance price of things is absolutely inflated and the cash pay price is way less, but even then, in an emergency or with some kind of chronic diagnosis you'd be out of pocket waaaaay more than $450 a month.

 

[noliver]

@verbum Well, I was diagnosed with breast cancer exactly a year ago. I have awesome and inexpensive insurance through my employer, and as a wild guess I probably used about half a million dollars of services already, probably more. But I never reached my yearly deductible of $5500. Think I paid out of pocket around $2000 or less. Catastrophic things do happen, and this is what insurance does best.

 

[sunshineblue]

@verbum Hey! So my husband and I don’t get insurance through our work. Through the PA exchange - as we are married - we don’t get much if any of a subsidy anymore so all that’s available are plans that cost around 400+/month (most are more than that) with deductibles around 12-14k for the lower cost plans and at least 5-8k for plans that would generally cost us $750/month or more. While these things are not for everyone in every situation, this has worked decently for us (and saved us a bunch of money) and what I would suggest looking into if you don’t hAve the option for it through work or with a good subsidy and a non-insane deductible:

1 - Look for Direct Primary Care near you. This is NOT concierge medicine. For us as a couple we pay $150 a month and it’s been amazing. They don’t do health insurance so everything is easier and all appointments and a lot of tests and such as free or at cost. You can also usually get appointments same or next day for sick visits and can text and message your doctor. It’s been amazing.​

2 - Before PA decided for whatever reason they wouldn’t allow it, we used Sedera for a year. It’s a Non-religious health share plan. Yes, there are risks that not everything will be covered but it was SO much better and cheaper than regular health insurance for is.​

3 - If not that, look into an indemnity plan. They can kinda be a pain in the ass, but this year we had a major emergency and it was absolutely worth it.​

4 - If you do any of these things, ALWAYS say you do not have insurance and are cash pay. #2 and #3 are not traditional insurance, and you get cash pay prices and submit the bills later and then can pay once you get the money.​

5 - IF you have a major medical emergency, look into if the hospital has a financial aid program. Some do - especially designed for people who don’t make a ton of money but make too much to qualify for other programs to help with medical bills. Between #4 and #5 - what originally was about $37k total in hospital bills, ended up being $11k with Cash Pay and except for the doctors that he saw in the hospital that were not billed through the hospital we got over 10k of that forgiven completely.​

With our state’s health insurance plan - for the two years we’ve gone non-traditional like above, we would’ve have to pay anywhere between 10-25k more in a two year period than doing what I state above given the medical emergencies we’ve had and what we would’ve paid.