Why does anybody buy health insurance?

2016-01-25T14:29:32-05:00

After careful consideration, I've decided it no longer makes any sense for me to buy health insurance. The ACA has made it so prohibitively expensive the premiums and copays dwarf what I could likely ever encounter in healthcare costs. My premiums are $1280/month. The fine for not having health insurance is $695/person (times four). With copays, I'd have to have over $20k in bills to break even.

Response by SSG Audwin Scott made Jan 25 at 2016 2:41 PM

2016-01-25T14:41:00-05:00

It is a waste of time, if you never use it, you can't get the money back you invested into it.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 25 at 2016 2:45 PM

2016-01-25T14:45:11-05:00

When my wife was going through chemotherapy for cancer, two days after each session, she would have to go in and get a shot that was to stimulate her red blood cell production. Tricare paid for it, but I saw the bill for one. That single shot cost $3000. Just the shot itself, not the chemo or all the other things associated with the cancer. I'm very glad I had/have health insurance.

Response by 1stSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 25 at 2016 3:13 PM

2016-01-25T15:13:19-05:00

Why are you not using Tricare?

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 25 at 2016 3:20 PM

2016-01-25T15:20:53-05:00

you are not suppose to be so money-wiz on this. :) lol All the AHCA is to lay the foundation of government control healthcare. What come after the current system collapse is the real deal. :)

Response by Col Joseph Lenertz made Jan 25 at 2016 3:35 PM

2016-01-25T15:35:55-05:00

I had a Law professor who said, "all insurance is a bet against yourself". You are betting that something worse will happen to you, or something bad, sooner or more often, than the average person will experience. It is what actuarial tables are all about. However, for most of us with families, it's not all about YOU. If your injury or disease or death could deplete your household's assets, then what? If you want to be a safety net for your family even in death, most of us have to pay the insurance man. You will almost never come out ahead financially in the calculus of insurance. The only way to come out ahead financially is to become gravely sick for a long time and then die. Kinda lose-lose.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 25 at 2016 4:45 PM

2016-01-25T16:45:18-05:00

When I left the military I bought a policy that only covered a major illness. It was the only thing close to affordable. It was FAR cheaper than other policies. I don't know if such still exists as that was over 40 years ago.

When I sold insurance for a year, I once refused to sell a man health insurance because the premiums he would pay actually would cost more than his maximum liability under the coverage he had. He wanted the supplement and it would have been the easiest sale I would ever have had.

My point is, all too often, people only want and only price the Cadillac plan.

Good luck.

Response by MSgt James Mullis made Jan 25 at 2016 4:52 PM

2016-01-25T16:52:44-05:00

I marked other and say bite the bullet and get insurance. If you do get sick or hurt, having insurance will increase the number of "life saving/life extending" treatment options that are available to you. It's tragic the number of times I've heard from my wife about young "healthy" patients with good jobs, who chose not to pay for their companies health insurance. Then, when it's discovered that they have cancer or need an organ transplant, they are shocked to find that Medicaid (the last option for the indigent) will not cover the procedure(s). And with Medicaid, unlike insurance companies there is really very little option for an appeal.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 25 at 2016 4:53 PM

2016-01-25T16:53:55-05:00

Yes, we are the highest country in the world when it comes to payment for healthcare. Everyone is in it for the money and not the welfare of our socieity.

Response by MAJ Bryan Zeski made Jan 25 at 2016 4:57 PM

2016-01-25T16:57:20-05:00

I agree that even under the ACA, health care is very expensive for some. I'd like to see a fully funded universal health care system for preventive, basic and emergency care. Maybe we could include a community service aspect in lieu of payment (obviously not a 1/1 par for cost, but SOMETHING - maybe an hour of work for $1000 of bills - friends and family could volunteer for you as well!).

Response by MCPO Roger Collins made Jan 25 at 2016 5:16 PM

2016-01-25T17:16:06-05:00

Make the right amount of income and you will get your insurance paid for. By those of us that do have insurance and through our taxes, now and into the future. seriously, the ACA was not meant to help people like you, people like you are expected to pay for those that do nothing and live in states with Expanded Medicaid (sometimes referred to as Democrat voters).

Response by LCpl Mark Lefler made Jan 25 at 2016 5:32 PM

2016-01-25T17:32:38-05:00

Why do we buy any insurance, while we're flushing away money most of the time, the time you need it, you need it.

Response by CDR Michael Goldschmidt made Jan 25 at 2016 5:58 PM

2016-01-25T17:58:35-05:00

That's exactly what the government wants, for Obamacare to fail, so we all end up under a single-payer system. They already control the schools, and, by and large, the media. They control the money supply. Controlling healthcare means they can ration it. We're just another step toward screwed.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 25 at 2016 6:10 PM

2016-01-25T18:10:25-05:00

The problem is to many people put having health insurance as having health care. The ACA make every one have heath insurance by law but does little for the Health care part.

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Jan 25 at 2016 6:12 PM

2016-01-25T18:12:21-05:00

Because the cost of paying for medical bills out of pocket will easily eclipse both the monthly premium AND the fines.

Response by Sgt Aaron Kennedy, MS made Jan 25 at 2016 7:29 PM

2016-01-25T19:29:35-05:00

1SG Private RallyPoint Member First, as a Vet, you are EXEMPT from the Penalty of ACA. Our VA coverage meets the minimum requirement mandated by law. It doesn't cover our family, but it does cover us.

I have a couple nice little letters from the VA reminding me of this (last year, and this year).

Now, the thing about Insurance is that it is "Risk Sharing." The problem with Risk Sharing of HEALTH is that EVERYONE is going to get sick (eventually). It's a losing bet. The PPACA cannot work unless "Everyone" is FORCED (Mandated) to be part of it. It cannot work unless everyone is included, because everyone will get sick.

The problem with this however is that all it does is redistribute wealth, through specific clauses. The young pay for the old. Men pay for women. It's really that simple. Women, and old people have more health problems than young and males, and the money has to come from somewhere. The books have to not only balance, but since we are a Capitalistic society, someone has to make money in the arrangement. You are not going to "break even" in the deal. And if you do, it's because you were "catastrophically ill."

The tradeoff however is that "We're not barbarians." We don't let people die on the streets. We treat people. We may bankrupt them to do it, but we treat them. The problem with bankrupting folks however is all that debt has to go somewhere. It goes back to "society."

So the question arises, which better? Using Bankruptcy or Mandating the Purchase of a third party product? Neither is ideal. Both result in the skyrocking costs of Health Care, and Health Care Insurance in the long run.

The PPACA has a lot of good in it. It also has a lot of bloody stupid, ignorant bad in it. My opposition to it is based on the fact that it is "Bad Law" (it's poorly crafted, unsustainable, and violates choice at the fundamental level) and it doesn't do what it says it does "Make Health Care Affordable."

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 25 at 2016 9:51 PM

2016-01-25T21:51:49-05:00

My daughter had to be airlifted to a hospital. 41,000 flight in one day. Between the doctors care and surgery I could have bought a house with that money. 80k+

With health insurance it is down in the much more manageable 4-5k. No need to think about bankruptcy, just tighten our belts for a while.

Response by SGT Kristin Wiley made Jan 26 at 2016 1:17 AM

2016-01-26T01:17:13-05:00

One of the many reasons I'm looking at staying in as National Guard or Reserves. Medical insurance is way cheaper in the military.

Response by LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow made Jan 26 at 2016 11:03 AM

2016-01-26T11:03:25-05:00

1SG Private RallyPoint Member you are really gambling with your life and the lives of your families. $1280/month is crazy, but a single hospitalization for something would wipe you out. Consider, for instance, you get Gall Bladder disease, and are in the hospital for a week, because it gets gangrenous. $50K or more. A heart attack - more than that. Cancer? More still...

Unless you have no family to care for, and are satisfied with just the VA (if you have eligibility for care there), don't risk it...

Also, as a reservist, the only things you can get service connections for are things that occur during activations, Title X, etc. Heart attacks, cancer, etc - not covered...

Take care of yourself...

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 26 at 2016 3:53 PM

2016-01-26T15:53:47-05:00

$1280/month sounds extraordinarily high for the FEHB options that I'm familiar with. In any case you appear to have a high tolorence for risk, so perhaps a HDHP is a viable option for you. HDHPs have higher deductibles but protect against catastrophic loss with lower premiums. Plus a portion of your premium is deposited in your personal Healthcare Savings Account that offers a triple tax benefit.

Response by MCPO Roger Collins made Jan 27 at 2016 4:27 PM

2016-01-27T16:27:03-05:00

This is where all those fees and deductibles are going, and its not to only subsidize the poor.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/27/theyre-millionaires-and-they-get-obamacare-subsidies.html?__source=xfinity|mod&par=xfinity

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 28 at 2016 7:23 AM

2016-01-28T07:23:24-05:00

Just to share this:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/01/28/paying-the-penalty-choosing-the-obamacare-tax-over-insurance/

‘For the Record’: Paying the Penalty — Choosing the Obamacare Tax Over Insurance

When Obamacare was launched in 2013, the stated goal of the law was to provide affordable health insurance for the uninsured. Supporters of the law believed that not only would health insurance be more available but the cost would also drop. For the Record found that millions of...