Anyone opt out of health insurance?

[christina0001]

Have you ever watched Chris Rock Live? He does a great skit on how insurance should be called "In Case $hit Happens." It's 100% correct. You don't pay for insurance to get things for free, whether it's car insurance, home insurance, or medical insurance. It really is for when bad things happen. Your dental plan, honestly, doesn't sound too good, but again, hopefully if you needed serious work (like a root canal) you would have the bulk of the cost covered.

I have gone without insurance several times in the past. Last year, my husband got laid off. We elected to not Cobra his insurance (which would have been several hundred dollars per month), and we almost chose to not put him on my insurance plan, which costs a whopping $500/month. Ouch! He was in great health - early 30s, eats well, goes to the gym 4x week, doesn't smoke or drink, no health problems. Guess what, he had 2 strokes in August. 30-some year old men in good health are not supposed to have strokes, but he did. Thank God he mostly recovered after a few weeks, and did not require rehab. Many tests later, they thought they found the cause - a congenital hole in his heart no one knew about. We had it closed at the number #3 hospital in the country. Thank God, we had the insurance. I have not added it all up, but I am pretty sure the total cost of the medical care he has received since August is almost six figures. If we didn't have insurance, the initial hospital stay alone would have wiped out our savings, and there's no way we could have even afforded the cost of the testing that diagnosed the heart problem, much less the follow-up care. Our income is too high to qualify us for any state insurance plan. And you cannot get non-emergent medical care unless you have insurance, or proof that you can pay. I am not trying to be dramatic, but if we didn't have medical coverage to take care of all this, my husband would probably not have gone too long without having another stroke, and the next stroke could have been much, much worse.

Being that you are in good health and have no history of medical problems, one option for you would be to look for private medical coverage. I think if you go to e-insurance.com or some similar sounding website, you can compare plans and costs. You might just want to get a policy to coverage catastrophic health problems. Your other option is to find a new job with a better medical plan - I've had plans as cheap as $70/month with very low copays, but if you are happy at your job, this really isn't a good reason to quit. Also keep in mind, when your employer takes that money out of your check to cover the cost of your premium, you do not pay taxes on that money. You may want to talk to your human resources person about setting up a flexible spending account, if your employer offers this benefit. It's money you put into a special account that is not subject to taxes, and you can use that money towards medical expenses, and only medical expenses. It cuts down on the amount of taxes you pay.

[dullnboring]

So if I'm reading everyone's posts right, the overwhelming advice is in favor of me opting out of my insurance? Kidding, kidding

Honestly, I knew everything that was said in this thread. I know the purpose of health insurance and how it prays on the possibility of ailments and how it's a "better safe than sorry" situation. I guess the frustration was getting to me, and I just needed reminded about the reasoning behind it, and the situations that can resolve from not having insurance.

So thanks for your input everyone. And a special thanks to MoMark, because since I'm convinced that we're the same person, just of different ages, you serve as a sort of psychic for me. Now I'll know when I get pneumonia to immediately go to the doctor.

[MoMark]

Originally Posted by dullnboring

So if I'm reading everyone's posts right, the overwhelming advice is in favor of me opting out of my insurance? Kidding, kidding

Honestly, I knew everything that was said in this thread. I know the purpose of health insurance and how it prays on the possibility of ailments and how it's a "better safe than sorry" situation. I guess the frustration was getting to me, and I just needed reminded about the reasoning behind it, and the situations that can resolve from not having insurance.

So thanks for your input everyone. And a special thanks to MoMark, because since I'm convinced that we're the same person, just of different ages, you serve as a sort of psychic for me. Now I'll know when I get pneumonia to immediately go to the doctor.

Insurance is just one of those necesary evils darn it. You hate paying it when you don't need it, and are totally thankful you have it when you do!
Are you my younger me? If so, I can give you some pointers of mistakes we'll make along the way you can avoid if you like. Avoid any Italian woman with the name Michele, not Michelle with two "L's", but Michele's with one "L"....save you a freakin' ton of grief and a lot of money mispent on diamonds and gifts .
As for pneumonia...what a sneaky sneaky illness. I'm ultra conscious of it now and am hyper alert and aware of how many people die from it now whereas it used to be just one of those illnesses "other" people had!!! Don't mess with your lungs!
That's my psychic reading for the road ahead for today