Comments on: Should I Go Without Health Insurance For A Better Career Situation?

By: kristine

kristine — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:33:24 +0000

Many professions that are freelance have some sort of agency through which you can access a “group” plan for less than an individual plan.

Cheap insurance is out there, but many routinely deny claims, and make the hoops so hard to jump through, especially when sick, that you could die waiting for procedure approvals. Shady insurance companies are everywhere. Caveat emptor.

I got a butter burn on my hand while cooking, lost the top of my hand, and had 9 days in the burn unit, a skin graft and hyberbaric treatments so I could keep all my fingers. I had coverage with a large reputable firm. But the ins. company denied the claim because their own hospital did not do the paperwork in time! Legally, I could not be held accountable (as a heavily drugged trauma patient I was not expected to make the notifying call). But that did not keep them from sending me a 60K bill, and harassing me. Only because I was saavy enough to make the right phone calls (took a year and a half to straighten out) was I no longer billed or bothered.

And this was a GOOD insurance company!

By: Tracy

Tracy — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 10:12:57 +0000

Trent etal.,

I think the equation changes dramatically as you get older. If you are over 40 and uninsured, you can risk being locked out of the insurance market for life, depending on your state. When I was young and healthy, I went uninsured for 12 years. It was cheaper to just pay out of pocket (although in retrospect, I was lucky and it would have been smart to have catastrophic insurance — I did have medical on my auto insurance, though). But if you are nearing 40, it makes a LOT of sense to get a job with insurance, COBRA-out and maintain that. Your rates will be significantly lower and as long as you stay insured, you can always stay insured.

By: tobias

tobias — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 05:31:03 +0000

Seems as there are sooo many worries about health insurance in the US, I’m glad I live in canada. Here if you dont make very much money, youre covered without having to pay for any medical bills, if youre on social assistance, prescription drugs are free, even if you make big money, the most anyone pays here for the canadian medical plan is around $50/month.

I couldnt imagine a system where you’re not covered at all and have to pay big $$$ just to cover your medical bills.

some other good info on health insurance etc is here:

http://tipconnection.com/category/health-care/
lots of good articles on health insurance and plans

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:07:47 +0000

NO, NO, NO. It’s NOT an either/or situation! You can have great health insurance coverage WITHOUT being on an employer-sponsored plan. I’ve been on my own insurance for over a year and I have great coverage for $145 a month. And COBRA is stupid. I’m getting the same EXACT coverage I had on COBRA and I was paying $245 a months for that! Same exact plan!

Read this book for a complete explanation of why it’s not only doable, but it makes sense to have your own plan. The main reason is that it stays with you no matter if you switch jobs. The book also explains how health insurance REALLY works!

http://www.amazon.com/New-Health-Insurance-Solution-Traditional/dp/0470040211/

“The New Health Insurance Solution: How to Get Cheaper, Better Coverage Without a Traditional Employer Plan” by Paul Zane Pilzer

Also, research plans on this website. Contact the insurance companies directly if you have specific questions.

http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/

By: julie

julie — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:37:48 +0000

Dear Trent,
I would never go without health care for anyone, I went from having a normal 4 year old ten years ago to a severly disabled child in a week. We though that she had the flu it was a brain tumor and the treatment was as bad as the disease. I had one bill just from the emergency room in 1998 for $34,000 and did not include the doctors, CT, the airlift to a pediatric intensive care unit or the 15 days in the ICU or the month in the hospital that followed. The day she was diagnosised she be came uninsurable with any other carrier than the one she was on and medical does not cover everything either. It is hard enough thinking our child might die let alone have to deal with money and collection agencys and not be able to get treatment because you can not pay for it.Without health insurance you might get emergency treatment but long term forget it.Peace of mind is worth the cost, and hopefully you never need it.

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 02:28:03 +0000

No way! If you have a job with insurance keep it! Especially if you have children and they rely on you for insurance too. Injuries,illnesses, etc. seem to pop up out of the blue sometimes.
My cousin and I and my 2 boys drove cross country to go to my brother’s wedding 2 yrs. ago. My cousin was driving my vehicle and decided to go to sleep while driving. I was looking out the window and looked over and the truck was going into the grass, I grabbed the steering wheel which caused her to jerk awake. She over corrected and we started to roll, mind you that we were traveling at 70-75mph! As much as I hate Blue cross and Blue Shield, I’m glad I had insurance. My auto insurance would not pay because I was missing PIP on it. So I had to use my medical insurance and then my auto insurance would pay back 100% of all my bills. I know as backwards. Anyways my bills ended up being around 70k and don’t forget that insurance has a discounted rate for medical services so I would have hated to see my bill if I had no insurance.
Start the business on the side if possible.

By: Jasmine

Jasmine — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:48:21 +0000

I have been in the situation where I was without health insurance and in short, it sucked. I was always worried about maybe getting sick or breaking my leg, I’m surprised it didn’t happen because i was thinking about it too much.

I would not recommend forgoeing health insurance by any means. If someone really is young and healthy getting coverage independently isn’t so bad. A doctors visit could easily cost thousands of dollars if something happened.

The ‘catastrophe’ insurance plan would be my second suggestion if the first isn’t feasible.

By: lorax

lorax — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 00:39:21 +0000

“What if I don’t pay local taxes but I drive on your road? Am I immoral?”

Like most moral issues there is a gray area. But it’s not very gray in this case. Clearly, if you drive on local road and aren’t insured, you are acting immorally. You aren’t paying for the remote roads that you use, but one presumes you pay for local roads in your locale, and I can drive on those.

Everyone is connected, but everyone has to act responsibly too.

By: Tall Bill

Tall Bill — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:21:30 +0000

Kim, Katie, and others above have it right on. Late in 2004 I started feeling “off” and started visiting my doctor. Food poisoning was first thought, then a round af antibotics, followed with some blood tests, etc. My family took me to the emergency room late in Jan 05. Within hours I was in my first major surgery, followed by 18 more over a 4 week period to clean up damage done by gallstone caused pancreasitis. I was in a coma durng all of this on life support & my wife was advised to pull the plug on life support at week 5. She pleaded with a team of Doctors to give me one more week of life support & I woke up the afternoon of day 7 – just down to hours from the go no go situation. I was then transfered to a rehab hospital to do some healing just to go through Kidney shutdown, 3 heat attacks (one while conscious & talking with a nurse – I passed out at seeing the paddles), back to a large Seattle hospital wherein they did an 11.5 hour reconstructive surgery, followed a week later with a skin graft to patch everything up. Four more weeks of physical therapy to relearn how to walk & out the front door of the hospital on April 28,2006 to home for twice a week visits by physical and occupational therapy. Just now I’m getting my stamina back to where I can try and keep up with the kids, etc. We still have our home as our insurance has paid out in excess of $ 1.6 mil to date & before all this started, I was active in the community, going for annual physicals & dealing with just a touch of asphma allergy related a couple of times a year. Go bare ie: without insurance & the chance of loosing everything is very real. Even with some stop gap insurance some still find backruptcy necesary – a step we were near at one point, but what bills remain show as a light at the end of the tunnel – not a train approaching! Signed: A Happy Camper just entering my 2nd 1/2 century smiling from a clean report from the doctor yesterday.

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 17:47:56 +0000

I’m self-employed, healthy, middle-aged. Fortunately my husband has an office job and good insurance. I discovered an abdominal lump which turned out to be cancer. I missed 3 months of work, which also meant 3 months of pay. Health insurance covered everything except minimal co-pays. I had some inadequate disability insurance which helped a little, but we still ended up declaring bankruptcy. Insurance is for the unexpected, try not to go without. The insurance company has paid is over a quarter of a million dollars for my care. Eeeek.

By: garbo

garbo — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:16:38 +0000

I second (or third) the call for at least catastrophic coverage for 20-somethings. Keep in mind that not having dependents isn’t the only consideration. If you get a life-threatening disease, your parents may bankrupt themselves to save your life. You have a responsibility to all the people you love and who love you not to create horrible situations like this either.

By: claymeadow

claymeadow — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:01:38 +0000

try your local chamber of commerce to see if they have a group plan. you may need to pay their annual fee. or go direct to an hmo for coverage, it’s expensive, i know first-hand, and don’t skimp, it’s worth it. has lot’s of dependents.

By: Eric

Eric — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:35:38 +0000

“There’s a moral argument here: If you don’t ensure yourself and later need medical care, guess who pays for your care? That’s right, we all do. It’s the tragedy of the commons.”

What if I don’t pay local taxes but I drive on your road? Am I immoral?

The thing folks who want to make your argument fail to look at is the millions of ways we are all bound together. We all pay for a ton of little things which help society run. You just want to single medical insurance out and say it is more important.

Your comment also ignores the benefit you get from my getting medical care. Say I have TB and am riding next to you or your child on the bus….do you really want me not to be getting treatment? It is in your own self interest to have all people covered because it will end up helping you stay healthy.

By: kathy

kathy — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:24:19 +0000

You can be self-employed and still have health insurance. It doesn’t have to be a “one or the other” choice. It’s easily obtainable through NASE (National Assoc. for Self Employed) or through your local Chamber of Commerce. In NY, we have Healthy New York, with insurance plans for new and small businesses. There are options.
Self employment is a big decision, especially when you have a family depending on you. If you’re single with no dependents, then fine, take your chances, but do NOT let your children go without insurance. Kids fall and break bones, get ear infections, and pick up all kinds of illnesses, and without insurance, all of your hard earned dollars will end up paying medical bills.

By: belleandthecity

belleandthecity — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:56:49 +0000

You should NEVER go without health insurance, young, single and healthy or older with a family to support.

Medical emergencies can happen quickly, such as appendicitis or getting in a car accident, and then you’ll find yourself in a huge amount of debt (think $50K or more), definitely worse than paying an expensive premium for a few months.

If you’re going to be working for yourself and expect to buy insurance on the individual market, you may have trouble getting coverage if you have had ANY health problems in the past, however small.

Our employer-based system doesn’t work (why should you have to be employed by a big company to get affordable coverage?), but it’s how things are done right now and medical bills can quickly put you under.

By: Cat

Cat — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 12:56:45 +0000

I want to note that even if you have nobody relying on you, it is still a good idea to get insurance. I know if I was in a terrible accident and didn’t have insurance, my parents (even though I’m 28) and siblings, and even friends, would feel obligated to help with the bills. While they are not relying on me, I don’t want to have to rely on them. Not being insured puts you AND your loved ones at risk for financial ruin, even if they don’t depend on you for income. There are cheap high deductible plans out there and HSA options. Don’t go without insurance.

@Meg, he does mention self-insurance in the post.

By: Dennis the Menace

Dennis the Menace — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:27:47 +0000

Funny this is up here. I think God is using you to speak to me : ). All kidding aside, after this semester I’m considering going from part time sales to full time sales and part time school. This was one of my main concerns. Thanks for the blog, it gave me some answers and options to consider.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:07:48 +0000

I am eternally grateful that I’ll never have to make that decision. Go socialism! heh.

By: 3bean

3bean — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 03:00:28 +0000

I would never go without health insurance. I’m young and healthy, but even a broken bone could cost $1000’s of dollars. I would encourage such a reader to look for all options to get some sort of insurance. For example, I’m a dietitian and can buy insurance through my professional organization, the American Dietetic Association. I purchased such insurance after I graduated college and was doing a professional internship to become an RD (registered dietitian). It’s wasn’t great– it didn’t cover physicals, prescriptions, or much else… but if something catastrophic happened, I would have been covered.

There’s a reason why medical expenses are the number one cause of bankruptcy.

By: infix

infix — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 02:22:09 +0000

JReed: I’m curious about group plans for the self-employed such as the NASE group you mention. It seems to me that the self-employed could band together to get better rates than they could by themselves.

I definitely have no intention of going without health insurance at this point. I’m just worried that the monthly premiums could end up beinq being very expensive as we go forward.

Certainly some sort of national health care plan in the US would help this situation a lot. It could actually help make the US more competitive.