Do any of you go WITHOUT health insurance? By choice?

[me&thegals]

My husband and I have been made an offer for the family farm. As we look into the future and try to figure a way to make it work financially, health insurance is one of our largest bills. I am fantasizing more and more about going without. Even with a very reasonable plan, we would save anywhere from $7000-10,000 yearly by going without.

Our family uses very little medical care. There are a couple health issues (fertility related), but they could be resolved before going off insurance. My kids are healthy, my husband and I have no health issues. Well, I take thyroid medicine, but that seems pretty minor.

So, have any of you done this? I am very happy to hear any and all opinions. I am sure there are consequences of this that I have not considered, and I would love to hear them.

The most obvious possibility is that something catastrophic would happen and we would be left paying bills the rest of our lives. But going on past history (little insurance use), our lifestyle (active and healthy) and our current healthcare use (minimal), does this sound like a reasonable way to be able to afford our dream, buying the family farm?

Thanks so much for any and all comments.

 

[Wildsky]

We have been without for about 4 or 5 years now. I dropped it when I was working because of the high cost and we never used it.
We were paying for those that ran to the emergency room for a stuffy nose.

Currently - I'm unemployed and my hubby supports us, and if there was something we could get covered by the state.

My son was admitted to hospital last year, the bill was terrible and I had collection calls and crud like that because the state was so slack on paying. The bill was over $12K for a week in the hospital. I finally had to take out the last of my 401K to pay the difference.

my hubby has Aflac for us now, it helps - we get paid more than charged when we go to the chiropractor or anything like that.

 

[Beekissed]

I've done without insurance for most of my adult life....but not by choice. Just never could afford it. Its not ideal but it does make you make more healthy choices about your life in a way.

 

[me&thegals]

Thanks, wildsky. I'm sorry about your son's hospitalization and subsequent bills

Bee--Has it ever bitten you in the rear? I'm afraid of that one humdinger injury that ruins the entire plan...

As for lifestyle, ours is really pretty great already. I already find myself doing a lot of self care and home remedies for colds and other minor things. We don't have any major issues. I consider excellent organic food to be preventive medicine, and so on.

Does anybody know anything about the current healthcare bill, whether people would get fined for not holding insurance? Thanks!

 

[Lady Henevere]

When I was between jobs (or working part time or something -- it was a while ago), I had an option of very low cost catastrophic coverage only. It didn't even kick in until my bills went over several thousand dollars. Regular doctor's visits, etc. were not covered at all. I thought it was a decent option for someone young and healthy, since it was cheap but covered the worst possibility. If you Google "catastrophic insurance" a bunch of information comes up. Good luck!

 

[PamsPride]

We have 6 kids...8 of us in total and we pay more for the Health plan ($200 a month) at DH's work in a year than what they insurance itself has covered, except for maternity. We are in good/ great health and rarely go to the doctor.
My mom is without any kind of health insurance and she just pays cash for her medical expenses or gets payment plans. She is not in great health but I still don't think she spends $10K a year in medical. My dad is in POOR health and 3 of his meds alone are $600 a month. I think he is on 13 meds all together. He has Medicaid and has already hit the gap this year.

You would have to plan a minimum of a $1K for an emergency room visit just for a few stitches. A broken bone or a minor surgery would be a lot more. Most everyone lets you make payments afterwards. Do you think you can afford the payment plans for something major?? Surgery?? Broken bone??

I really want to start a family farm with my children but quite frankly the thought of having to pay for our own insurance or going without insurance terrifies me. We have insurance and it just kills me to pay what the insurance doesn't!!

I find out if you bought your own insurance what the limits are. Can they drop you for to many claims? Is there anyway to keep the family farm from getting a lien on it or a forced sale because of medical expenses? You don't want something terrible to happen and then lose the farm!

All that said....I would personally go without if it meant the difference between living my dream and not living it!!

 

[Beekissed]

Not really....not yet. I now have a free Flex Plan at work if I forego the insurance. They allow you $5,000 to spend on anything medical related...eyes, teeth, meds, docs, supplies, etc. The only problem with that is most things costs a heck of a lot and they only reimburse you....how would anyone be able to pay for procedures that costs over a thou or so?

I hurt my back the other day and went to the doctor for the first time since 2005(when I got the original back injury). He recommended an MRI...... yeah, right.

So I went home with my Motrin and sat on an ice pack, prayed for pain relief and went on back to work the next day. I have a herniated disc or two....they are a ticking time bomb waiting to happen. This I know. This limits my activities a bit for fear of really doing it up right. I'm already into nerve damage to both of my legs, so it doesn't look good.

But one must endure what cannot be helped.

The way health care is going right now, its six of one, half dozen of the other.

 

[PamsPride]

Thanks, wildsky. I'm sorry about your son's hospitalization and subsequent bills

Bee--Has it ever bitten you in the rear? I'm afraid of that one humdinger injury that ruins the entire plan...

As for lifestyle, ours is really pretty great already. I already find myself doing a lot of self care and home remedies for colds and other minor things. We don't have any major issues. I consider excellent organic food to be preventive medicine, and so on.

Does anybody know anything about the current healthcare bill, whether people would get fined for not holding insurance? Thanks!

My parents did get bit in the rear by not having insurance. He got sick and was on a ventilator for 17 days, helicopter to Pittsburgh hospital for that, months and months of rehab only a couple months before he qualified for Medicaid. Several hundred thousand in bills! But he smoked for years and does not eat healthy or exercise.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Yup, same as Bee here. We did have it when hubby was a truck driver, simply because his was free and ours was super cheap, but other than that...

DS, who is the sickliest of us (seasonal allergies that turn into sinus infections overnight) has Medicaid because he is disabled.

All the rest of us pay cash. It's great being healthy.

Now if we have something catastrophic come up, like cancer we'll probably be screwed, but for now it works.

 

[i_am2bz]

Sometimes even having health insurance isn't such a great deal. I had a lot of tests to figure out unexplained weight loss; I owe $1300 for a CAT scan, & that's WITH insurance!! I have a $1000 deductible plus 30% of any hospital services. I suppose it's better than having NO insurance, but that's about all I can say about it.

I went about 2 years without when I was self-employed. I ended up in the ER with pneumonia; that was a $2000+ bill. Took me 3 years to pay it off.