Should I cancel my health insurance?

[LeanMachine]

The high price of health insurance has chapped me for all of my adult life. I am currently paying $16,000 annually for family coverage. I put another 7-8k into an HSA annually. We are all healthy. No health conditions. No medication. I have 3 kids.

Is it irresponsible to not have health insurance? It just seems like I am giving thousands of dollars away. In the absence of coverage I would just put that same amount of money annually in separate account and use it like an HSA. Even if some kind of tragedy strikes I can pay $20k a year towards it. And if tragedy does not strike, I am putting a good chunk of money into savings.

So tell me the horror stories of someone not having insurance and it ruining their life.

I'd like to hear yalls thoughts on the matter.

[gingib]

With a family, I could not and wouldn't have the balls to do it.

Just in case something ever happened. Especially with kids.

[7sdad]

I know how you feel but it only takes one accident or illness that can cost $100's of thousands in cost.

[Capt.Brown]

Look into medi share

[txpitdog]

You might look into co-ops that are privately funded. We had neighbors that did this, still to risky for me, but you might get a tolerable middle ground between where you are and nothing at all.

[hopedale]

You don't want to get caught without health insurance.

I get it, but spend sometime to find cheaper insurance. There are a number of folks on the GS that deal with insurance.

[BassMaster13]

If you have kids no.

One serious head injury or brain surgery you're looking a million dollar bill. God forbid that ever happen, but it happens everyday.

[dstrong]

The high price of health insurance has chapped me for all of my adult life. I am currently paying $16,000 annually for family coverage. I put another 7-8k into an HSA annually. We are all healthy. No health conditions. No medication. I have 3 kids.

Is it irresponsible to not have health insurance? It just seems like I am giving thousands of dollars away. In the absence of coverage I would just put that same amount of money annually in separate account and use it like an HSA. Even if some kind of tragedy strikes I can pay $20k a year towards it. And if tragedy does not strike, I am putting a good chunk of money into savings.

So tell me the horror stories of someone not having insurance and it ruining their life.

I'd like to hear yalls thoughts on the matter.

I did exactly what you're talking about.... I refused to just give that money away every year. I decided to keep my money and if tragedy struck was willing and capable of self paying...

We were bought by a larger company last year and our health coverage rates dropped by 50%.... I now use our insurance but when it was stupid high, I chose a self insured route....

[WItoTX]

If you can front the cost of a serious illness, go for it!

I can't afford to do it, but if I could, I totally would. It's cheaper to pay cash in nearly all cases. I would need well over a million dollars just to feel slightly comfortable in paying cash for Dr visits, and I only have 1 kid and a wife.

[LUCKY AGAIN]

you might want to check this out.

https://www.chministries.org

[rtp]

Man I hear and have contemplated this myself. My wife and I pay 17,400 in premiums with a 3500/6500 deductible. So we are paying a minimum 21K before the insurance company kicks in a dollar. I have often wondered if there was a ppo plan that had a 25K deductible that would be really cheap on the premiums. After Obamacare I have been afraid to cancel my policy and venture into the landscape he created.

[westtexducks]

I was just mulling over this same thing Friday. My insurance went up again this year and now paying $482 dollars per check for a family of 3 or $12,500 a year for insurance that we have used twice in last 3 years and that was because we had a baby. After we have the next one this summer I am seriously thinking about dropping it and putting $400 a check into a savings account.

The other one that chaps my *** is the auto insurance. That is another one I have been seriously thinking about getting the required minimum saved up and telling them to pound sand as well. Would free up an additional 2-3k a year of cash flow as well.

[Throwin Darts]

One incident that requires long term care and you’d be finally ruined.

Is your insurance through your employer? Have you considered changing jobs to get lower priced coverage? $16k is steep

[piercebronkite]

What really is a kick in the d&ck is that youre healthy and you still have to pay this much money. Me and my family are all healthy and do not require any prescription medication. It would be nice to have some type or reward system for prioritizing good health and exercise. But of course theres no money in that.

Back to your question, I dont know if I could personally stop paying healthcare. I would live way too cautiously if I did not have have it. If Im living very cautiously then what kind of life is that? (Im talking about living the kind of life where you have to question everything you do in order to know that you could pay for it the event of an emergency, e.g., kids sports, etc.)

[LeanMachine]

I fully understand that bad stuff happens to people everyday. There are plenty of those people that are uninsured. So what happens to them? They receive medical care just like the insured people. I have worked in healthcare for 12 years. I do not personally know anyone that has been left in financial ruin by some immense medical debt.

It just feels like living in fear to me. And I don't like that.

Surely there is some kind of catastrophic coverage that is less expensive. I will gladly cash pay for the day to day kid has an ear ache or whatever.

I'm not set on anything yet.