[frankthetank]

Just live in a van in a WalMart parking lot. Cut a hole in the floor for plumbing.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Hawkcreek', 'Y')eah, my reply was colored by my beliefs. I believe that people have a lot of control over their health by controlling their actions. I think that if you subtract most of the fat off the average person, and they would start exercising and eating right, our health costs would be cut by a factor of 10.
I have only been to a doctor a few times even counting the motorcycle wrecks. And I am 61.
But if I quit exercising or start eating junk, I start feeling bad. I think that may not be a coincidence.
If I had invested all of the money I have spent in insurance payments over the last 40 years, I think I could provide medical care for 100 people like myself.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('frankthetank', 'J')ust live in a van in a WalMart parking lot. Cut a hole in the floor for plumbing.

[patience]

Quote:
"Not to make light of your wife's condition (my dad has acid reflux and can't drink coffee etc.), but $8,500 for a burp?"

pstarr, My thoughts exactly!

The whole medical profession trades on FEAR, to get you to buy into their crap. We bit on that one, but we do all we can to avoid the robbery in the medical industry.

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Hawkcreek', ' ')I believe that people have a lot of control over their health by controlling their actions.

[frankthetank]

Thinking small up in Wisconsin? You ever seen the size of these people?

Ludi-

My sister-in-law has high blood pressure, is in great shape (40's), exercises all the time, ... She really has to watch it. Not long after retiring (50's), her dad fell over dead after a game of tennis (also very good physical shape, etc)...they are pretty sure it was heart related...

I think mine is on the high side, although i haven't checked it lately.

[eastbay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('IanC', 'T')ruly inspiring - both the tiny houses and the article about living off grid. It's funny that this has become my new ideal. Why don't I just reach out and grab it?

I thought their plan to forego health insurance was the most revolutionary aspect of the whole article.

-IanC
Portland OR.

[jdmartin]

I think it's a good message and offers good ideas, and at the same time is a little pollyanna. If you don't have any health issues that are self-inflicted, then you might be OK dropping off of health insurance. Or you could have a situation like my wife has, with a hereditary condition that doesn't show up for 50 years before it starts irritating nerves and causing debilitating pain, which no amount of homeopathy is going to solve. She'd be in a lot worse shape if not for our health insurance, or I'd be completely bankrupt.

Going smaller can be an effective way to reduce some costs - property taxes are less, heating costs are reduced, construction costs are lessened. On the other hand, like someone already pointed out, if you own your house free and clear already you'd probably be hard-pressed to do even better than that by trying to go into something smaller. And not everywhere are people going to pony up $4.50 for a loaf of homemade bread or some other craft. Meaning that it depends on the minions staying in the machine for these people to sell their bread for $4.50.

Still, overall I like the positive feel of the article and it should be thought-provoking if nothing else...like Pops says, what are you doing to prepare for the future?

[Ludi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', ' ')My lifetime medical insurance premiums far, far exceed the services I've received.... probably by a factor of 10.

[Byron100]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', ' ')My lifetime medical insurance premiums far, far exceed the services I've received.... probably by a factor of 10.

[Specop_007]

Going without health insurance is a gamble. Perhaps one where you an influence odds in your favor but at the end of the day it IS a gamble and it only takes one incident to completely wipe you out.

Heres an example. Just a month ago or so I was out with my 3 kids, all was fine. On our way home my son started complaining about a pain in his chest, somewhat behind is heart. I figured growing pain or some such. 15 minutes later by the time we were home he was in tears, 10 minutes after that he was squirming on the floor in pain. This is a saturday, no family doctor. So off to the emergency room. Couple thousand later ($100 for me thankfully) we had out doctor visit, our medication, our room and our X-Ray.

Pneumonia. Theres simply some things no amount of preventative maintenace will prevent. Theres a reaosn our average lifespan has increased dramatically alongside our progress in the medical field.

The problem is when people think of health insurance they think of a full package. They want to insure themselves from the common cold, not from life threatening injuries.

Theres a difference between being sick and needing some medication and having a heart attack or car wreck and needing surgery.

Maybe rather then take the (foolish) gamble between full package insurance and nothing at all someone should take the sensible approach and have a high deductible insurance for actual honest to God EMERGENCIES and not try to insure themselves against the common cold!

[JJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', ' ')My lifetime medical insurance premiums far, far exceed the services I've received.... probably by a factor of 10.

[hardtootell]

This discussion seems to have turned into a debate over the merits and pitfalls of health insurance.

Here is my 2 cents

1) We are all gonna die
2) but first we are going to suffer
Health insurance or not

Mitigations

1) Stay fit
2) eat well
3) lower stress
4) treat injuries and infections aggressively- don't let yourself deteriorate too fast.
5) Be a very informed consumer of health care- trust your common sense or if you are too ill make sure there is someone there whose judgment you trust looking out for your interests.
6) be aware of low cost high efficacy herbal treatments- e.g. St john's wort, bee propoplis, Valerian root etc.
7) meditate- for peace of mind and mental health
I agree that carrying the minimum health insurance makes sense.

And if there is a God- may (s)he strike me dead with a nice clean lightning bolt b4 I get Alzheimer's or some other chronic wasting disease that depletes the resources of my family to care for.