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You've got it. Might as well not have insurance and put the $625/mo into savings ($7,500/year). In ten years, that's $750,000. Quite a nice "nest egg."
I have thought a lot about this and it really does make sense. Buying (or not buying) insurance feels a lot like gambling. There are a lot of things to consider and this is one consideration.
You are only "insured" against losing your home. If you can't find $10K to save your own life, then you have other problems.
As usual, the tax payer is screwed while the leeches are taken care of.
We have a family member who had a stroke. Paid her way all her life. Now that she needs help she is a small amount above being able to get any help. Now it's up to her kids to help her although her kids are tax paying hard working people who are working hard to pay their way through life. If she had made less, "everything" would be paid. The kids who never complained about paying their own way now understanding it's only the loads on society that get help now look at them with disgust.
The issue is the lowest cost bronze HSA plans for 2014 (especially for younger healthier people under age 40).
Last's year's 2013 ("junk HSA max $2500 deductible/max cost") is now "$6000".
That "junk" comprehensive plans many people paid with the $2500 max in network cost (and I mean max in network total out of pocket cost) is consider a "platnium" plan. Oh how the irony of all this.
If you look at many "platinum" plans. They may claim to have no deductible or very small co pays. But at the end of the day, you are still exposed to max out of pocket expense of around $2000-3000.
So bottom line is last years junk HSA plans for the vast majority of people under age 40 is considered a platinum plan under the ACA which costs much more.
And HSA plans since 2005 have already covered most of the preventive tests the ACA is supposed to covered. I had one of the older 2006 HSA plans and it always covered screening colonscopy, physicals, labs etc without ever applying to my $2500 deductible.
Miss my HSA compatible high deductible plan. Only have 1 company selling HSA plans in my area and my providers don't belong to it.
Been purchasing my own insurance for past 15+ years. I am amazed at how little has improved for unsubsidized under the ACA. So I guess insurance has been realistically priced all these past years despite people railing against the insurance companies for price gouging?
I have thought a lot about this and it really does make sense. Buying (or not buying) insurance feels a lot like gambling. There are a lot of things to consider and this is one consideration.
The real issue here, is that insurance is about risk, not providing services.
Insurance - REAL insurance, is about paying someone to carry a risk for you. You pay for car insurance, because you probably can't pay for the harm you could cause someone else. An accident on your part could easily rack up 200 to 500 thousand in bills and lost wages. So, you pay for an insurer to carry a SPECIFIC risk for you. Since the chances of you doing that are relatively small, if you're a safe driver, the premium isn't bad.
But if your car insurance was supposed to pay for oil changes, tire balancing, car washes, tune-ups, and details every 6 months, car insurance would astronomically expensive.
Life itself is an unending parade of risks. Getting up in the morning could be fatal or even a serious injury. It does happen, even if the risk is very, very small.
So, you must balance risk vs cost in your life. I don't have insurance because the risk vs cost is not to my advantage. If I have a heart attack or cancer, or some other extremely expensive thing, I'll probably just die. But I'm going to die anyway, sometime, the risk of that is 100%. The only question is when. Do I spend my life working to pay for someone to shield me from massive financial risk, when that massive financial investment is a huge risk, with small chance of reward? The vast majority of cancers are fatal, as are most of the catastrophic events.
I could afford that kind of catastrophic insurance, that covers only those things, and manage the rest of my medical expenses like I do every other need. But it's now illegal, since politicians decided THEY, not I, must make my choices for me.
You've got it. Might as well not have insurance and put the $625/mo into savings ($7,500/year). In ten years, that's $750,000. Quite a nice "nest egg."
Quote:
Originally Posted by petch751
As usual, the tax payer is screwed while the leeches are taken care of.
We have a family member who had a stroke. Paid her way all her life. Now that she needs help she is a small amount above being able to get any help. Now it's up to her kids to help her although her kids are tax paying hard working people who are working hard to pay their way through life. If she had made less, "everything" would be paid. The kids who never complained about paying their own way now understanding it's only the loads on society that get help now look at them with disgust.
If somebody is disabled-SS they can get on Medicare in two years. In my state if you are disabled and unable to work you can get on Medicaid and then go to Medicare. Apparently she lives in one of the Republican states that decided not to extend Medicaid to single disabled and low income.
These are the health insurance exchange individual market plans going in my state
You pay $625 per month, then any time you get sick, go to the doctor, you pay full cost out of your own pocket unless you have more than $10,000 of medical bills. Then the excess over $10,000 in the same year is covered
You also pay 625 each month on top THIS
Is this an affordable health plan?
Yes, but now your sex change operation is covered!
If somebody is disabled-SS they can get on Medicare in two years. In my state if you are disabled and unable to work you can get on Medicaid and then go to Medicare. Apparently she lives in one of the Republican states that decided not to extend Medicaid to single disabled and low income.
My mother was on medicare. But medicare refused the heart surgery that would have extended her life longer than her early 60's. Medicare is famous for paying for non-essentials and denying essentials.
I could afford that kind of catastrophic insurance, that covers only those things, and manage the rest of my medical expenses like I do every other need. But it's now illegal, since politicians decided THEY, not I, must make my choices for me.
Yep, now we are "required" to pay ridiculous insurance rates so we can fund the leeches having more babies who they'll teach to become leaches.
I thought liberalism was about choices? Oh that's as long as it's having sex with who ever or whatever you want. That's only if you don't want to defend yourself against criminals. We MUST .. MUST PAY for the people who are either too lazy or too dumb and lazy.
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