Should I cancel my health insurance?

[TheHammer]

This is what I am hearing from cash pay people. A friend of mine makes good money and does not have insurance. Was working out of state and had to go to the ER and have some stuff done. Gets a big bill. Calls them and they slash it in half immediately when he offers to pay cash.

100% true. We’ve done it 3-4 times.

[LeanMachine]

I am 41 and my wife is 39, and we have 3 kids still living at home. We both are blessed to have very good jobs but we choose to not carry insurance. We went through the same thought process as you about 3-4 years ago. I personally have never had health insurance. My wife carried it on herself and the kids for a while through her job when it was semi affordable. We finally dropped it several years back after prices continued to rise. It no longer made fiscal sense for us to pay ridiculous amounts for something that we never used when we could be saving that money. My wife is like me and never goes to a doctor, and we have been blessed with extremely healthy children up to this point. I have no fears of financial ruin if something should happen. Most people carry it for fear of the "big things". The money that I save by not having insurance would allow large payments to be made toward paying off any large medical debt that might be incurred. As a Christian, I am just foolish enough to trust God with my finances and our health.

Thanks for sharing

[No-Tox]

#1 reason for bankruptcy is Medical. A big medical issue can ruin your bank account and future earnings.
I've been with Samaritan Ministries and several people I have referred to them are very happy. Basically, you take responsibility of your "everyday healthcare", like prescriptions and doctor visits but anything over $500 can be sent in for reimbursement. This is coming from the book of Acts of every Christian taking care of one another in their time of need.

[ladrones]

I’m paying 700.00 bucks a month for insurance through my wife’s employer. Since I’m disabled I get some Medicare coverage as well.
Still paying thousands in co-pays every year.

The system is set-up to break you.

[jkk831]

.

[TwoHighways]

Insurance is a friggen scam. Medical care would be so much cheaper without all of the third parties and administrative bloat involved. Nobody dies because they don't have insurance and our system would be far better off if people just put what they pay in premiums into an HSA and were able to shop for the best price for medical care/procedures.

[Richard S.]

Well with Biden as president we will soon have a socialist health plan....

[LeanMachine]

Insurance is a friggen scam. Medical care would be so much cheaper without all of the third parties and administrative bloat involved. Nobody dies because they don't have insurance and our system would be far better off if people just put what they pay in premiums into an HSA and were able to shop for the best price for medical care/procedures.

I tend to agree. I feel like we are all living in so much fear of the tiny possibility of a catastrophic situation, that we give away tens of thousands of dollars to insulate us from it.

[Hobbs]

you might want to check this out.

https://www.chministries.org

^^^This.

We have this and the plan we are on is basically a major medical.

[TwoHighways]

Well with Biden as president we will soon have a socialist health plan....

One could argue it’s already somewhat socialized. The people that can afford it pay for those who can’t (another reason costs are higher than they should be). We just have a ton of profiteering by middlemen with the current system.

[LeanMachine]

^^^This.



We have this and the plan we are on is basically a major medical.

I will check them out. I looked at Samaritans purse one this morning.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[chunkinlead]

you might want to check this out.

https://www.chministries.org

This is a good route to look into.

[mwk128]

One could argue it’s already somewhat socialized. The people that can afford it pay for those who can’t (another reason costs are higher than they should be). We just have a ton of profiteering by middlemen with the current system.

This is the absolute truth. One can make a valid argument that the government only makes things worse so socialized medicine would be a cluster. But I think everyone would agree that the current system is broken and something big needs to be done. Anyone have a better plan than Medicare for all?

So many people seem to work in the “healthcare field” and from the outside their jobs seem completely unnecessary. The current healthcare system is so bloated and inefficient it’s ridiculous.

[S-3 Ranch]

This is the absolute truth. One can make a valid argument that the government only makes things worse so socialized medicine would be a cluster. But I think everyone would agree that the current system is broken and something big needs to be done. Anyone have a better plan than Medicare for all?

So many people seem to work in the “healthcare field” and from the outside their jobs seem completely unnecessary. The current healthcare system is so bloated and inefficient it’s ridiculous.

Amen!
At our PCP , they have 3 medical staff and 20 support staff
Paperwork team/ medical records , insurance negotiations team , collection team , very bloated

The medical and insurance industry walk hand in hand in employment scams .

[Rustythebeagle]

For folks saying you can negotiate discounts on medical bills when offering to pay cash; you can do the same practice for Medical Bills where you still have insurance. Once it goes to collections the hospital has at that point often sold the debt and written it off; very easy to settle at that point at a fraction of the cost.

I understand the moral argument and pitfalls if "everyone did this strategy" but just thought I would throw it out there.