Guy who lives on 11,000 a year explains his health insurance:

[JanMichael]

http://www.tosimplify.net/

Note: he states his approach isn't for everyone. I found it interesting that so many DUers were willing to read a few paragraphs...ignore the guy's blog...and call BS on it so quickly.

[Warren Stupidity]

1. That is because very quickly it is BS.

"Since we're exceedingly health-conscious people, we should feel pretty comfortable in betting that, say, over the next decade, we won't require any serious medical care."

Why does one have to proceed past that idiocy? Here is a clue: shit happens. You lead a saintly life of diligent healthiness and the gods play games with you and you get breast cancer and have huge ruinous medical bills for years. Ooops.

"My deductible may be a bit high for your blood, but it's all a matter of measuring how confident you are in your overall health..."

Fucking fool. Foolish fucking fool pandering irresponsible smug arrogant idiocy.

[rocktivity]

2. That wouldn't stop you from getting INJURED

as the result of being the victim of either an accident or a crime. We must be insured against getting sick AND getting hurt, and losing income because of it, duh!

:headbang:
rocktivity

[DefenseLawyer]

8. Last week a friend of mine got hit by a motorcycle as he was crossing the street

As he was crossing the street, I'm quite sure he was quite confident in his overall health. And he's still in intensive care.

[JanMichael]

20. and that could happen to anyone

whether they are at home in a "normal" house or apartment, or on the road like this guy. It sucks. I think we need single payer immediately...but, I just wanted DUers that said "80 bucks a month is bs" to see what HE wrote about it.

[jwirr]

52. Or having a child with a disability.

[JanMichael]

3. So what? People here wanted to know how he

pays 80 bucks a month. This guy sounds pretty happy to me... yeah...he might have horrific health problems or some type of god awful accident that will ruin him. But, is he any worse than someone sitting in a house with a mortgage? They'll be just as crushed. He's living his life NOW... and stands just as much chance of being miserable later that we ALL do.

[Jumping John]

6. ea capitalism = the bare minimum in our society and is just OK. Sheesh nt

[JanMichael]

12. so, should he just have kept his

apartment and sat at home waiting for things to get better?

Put his life on hold in fear of what might or might not happen?

[Jumping John]

22. He can do what he chooses of course. but he is basically living a a fallacy when he thinks he has

a health care plan.

Only a fat insurance CEO would like his health care plan as long as the poor in our society would pay to have it.

[JanMichael]

23. in no way have I said

I think this is a marvelous idea for everyone. I have advocated single payer for years, and think the US healthcare system is broken beyond repair. Has been for decades.

Why do you keep arguing something that wasn't the original intent of the thread? I posted it to show how he bought insurance for 80 bucks a month. That's all. There you go.

[Warren Stupidity]

13. You asked why this approach is bullshit.

I don't know or care if he is happy in the moment. As an approach to health care financial security it is delusional. This concept: all we need is catastrophic insurance, is yet another rightwing bullshit theory pandered to the easily persuaded to get around the hard fact that we need a comprehensive national health care system that covers everyone and that is paid for through common pooling of resources (I.E TAXES) and that does not suck 33% up front out of the system as profits and 'overhead' for a totally useless private insurance industry.

[JanMichael]

17. I am aware of that.

Perhaps you should write to him and tell him how stupid he is-- there is a link to contact him on the blog.

[JanMichael]

32. wrong... I asked why so many people thought the price the guy

was/is paying for insurance was bullshit without reading his blog to find out.

I didn't say anything about the APPROACH being bulllshit.

[Warren Stupidity]

42. did you?

"I found it interesting that so many DUers were willing to read a few paragraphs...ignore the guy's blog...and call BS on it so quickly."

You didn't say anything at all about the price. The price isn't a lie, or at least I have no idea if it is a lie or not. The theory espoused in this blog that the blogger's approach is reasonable because he is so freaking health aware is total bullshit and part of the standard assholic rightwing kant that it is our own fucking fault if we get sick and can't pay the bill. That anyone here is supporting this sort of bullshit is pathetic.

As others have pointed out, even the "I get by on 11K a year" part is massively misleading as the blogger clearly indicates he has resources that allow him to 'get by on 11K a year' that could only have been acquired by 'getting by' on way more than 11K a year for quite a few years.

[JanMichael]

47. All your concerns are addressed in this thread

every single one.

Read the whole thread; it's not that long. I don't agree that this person's system would work for everyone. Probably less than 1 in a hundred. I think single payer is needed NOW. The system is broken. Obviously.

[Warren Stupidity]

58. oh thanks I am so relieved that all my concerns are addressed.

[jwirr]

53. But when if he does get sick and his insurance does not cover the

new illness is it going to end up being the taxpayer who is paying?

[Jumping John]

4. QFT (quoted for truth) Thank you. 45% of income = deductible is insane

That is because very quickly it is BS.

"Since we're exceedingly health-conscious people, we should feel pretty comfortable in betting that, say, over the next decade, we won't require any serious medical care."

Why does one have to proceed past that idiocy? Here is a clue: shit happens. You lead a saintly life of diligent healthiness and the gods play games with you and you get breast cancer and have huge ruinous medical bills for years. Ooops.

"My deductible may be a bit high for your blood, but it's all a matter of measuring how confident you are in your overall health..."

Fucking fool. Foolish fucking fool pandering irresponsible smug arrogant idiocy.

[JanMichael]

5. again?

so what. It's his life. People wanted to know how he could afford it. He addressed that on his blog.

[jberryhill]

9. Yes, he can afford it by being lucky so far, like most folks /nt

[Jumping John]

15. So? Some people have health coverage in our society but cannot afford to use it B/C of high

deductibles and so do not really have health care as the insurance companies reap a no risk profit.

And if he is injured and cannot work his 80 dollar coverage will go unpaid and he will lose is health care anyway.

[Jumping John]

29. OK. So thnx for showing us the futility of paying for useless corporate greed. nt

[JanMichael]

31. OK. Since you are determined to discuss nothing besides how

stupid you think this guy is...given what we have to work with in the US today, how would you propose that he changes his life or insurance plan to something you think sucks less?

You seem to think I am arguing that we have a good system; I have said NUMEROUS times on this thread that our system sucks ass. However, this is how this one person is choosing to live.

Other than just spitting out platitudes, what would you suggest HE do differently?

[Jumping John]

37. I don't intend to advise someone who refuses to see reality. And if I am agreeing with you that the

system sucks, why are you angry with me?

But my suggestion is that the guy should move to Canada or France since his trade is in music and he likes to travel.

Thanks.

[JanMichael]

59. I will say this...I had to reflect on the anger I saw (both on here, and

yahoo), and I am now convinced that it's not jealousy, as someone below suggested...but, rather that people are afraid that the RW press will parlay this into a "if he can do it, everyone can" situation...that we have all had shoved down our throats since...what? 1792 or so? It's the Horatio Alger horseshit that people are sick of...and not, as I thought....just seeing someone choose an alternative lifestyle.

I am glad I started this thread; I definitely got more out of it than I thought I would.

[lumberjack_jeff]

26. A very high deductible (if you have savings) is not stupid.

No insurance is.

[Jumping John]

30. Only if going bankrupt is a good plan. Oh wait. That is pretty much the norm for our society. nt

[Lars39]

36. Until you have major health problems that straddle 2 years.

Get sick in December and you're out $10,000...come January you're still sick, and you're out another $10,000 in deductibles. And you still owe your 20% of allowed charges.

[former9thward]

33. Your math is way off.

The 11,000 is expenses not income. We don't know what his income is. I have health insurance that cost 120$ ( I am 20 years older than the guy in the article) a month and covers absolutely every thing past a 5k deductible. If I need it I have the money for a deductible, so I have the policy if anything ever really bad happens.

[tularetom]

7. I bitched about this for years with my employer

I wanted them to take the money they were paying for my PPO style medical plan and use it to buy a high deductible insurance policy and put the balance into a savings account to pay the deductible. I even had a few others talked into supporting me. And this was before there was any provision for HSA's. But there were too many others who wanted the employer to pick up the entire tab.

As this guy states, this type of program won't work if you run to the doctor everytime you get a hangnail. But at the time I was an empty nester, in my late 40's and my wife and I were both in reasonably good health. I'm now 70, still in fairly good shape and both the employer and I would have been money ahead to adopt the plan I advocated. I could have cashed in the savings account when I went on medicare and used the money to pay for a supplemental policy (which would have cost the employer zilch as opposed to the couple hundred a month they're now paying).

[Bigmack]

10. I don't know how old this guy is...

but he's very young... when you consider his hubris.

SNL's Julia Sweeney wrote a monologue about her adventures with cancer... "God Said HA!"

I'm not a believer, but Fate certainly has a way of making us humble.... age, too.

Hang on, Glenn.... you never know when the ride will get bumpy.

[JanMichael]

14. he actually seems pretty aware of that

and is out enjoying his youth while he has it. Wish I had done more of the same.

[former9thward]

34. He is 40. His insurance would cover the cancer, etc. if you had even read the OP

[drm604]

11. He has way too much faith in the idea that diet and nutrition will protect him, in my opinion.

Certainly, if you're able to have money set aside for the deductible in case of emergency then it may make sense. I'd have to know the details of the plan to say for sure. Heck, when I consider what I pay monthly for insurance, I could probably be ahead with a $5000 deductible plan (I'm not sure that I could get one, though). The big risk is that some big medical issue will arise which makes it necessary to meet that large deductible year after year.

Counting on being young and taking care of yourself is taking a big risk. Also, what happens if you acquire some chronic health issue which locks you into your current plan and then want to start a family? Suddenly you have dependents and a high deductible (which will likely go up with the addition of dependents) along with your extra medical costs. And if you have a child born with chronic issues you'll be in even deeper.

[dsc]

16. He is clearly living of having had an income substantially higher than 11k

or else he wouldn't have the substantial savings he has. I am presuming he has at least 10k in savings to be going with this plan and he clearly didn't obtain that on 11k a year.

[JanMichael]

18. He states that in his blog

nt.

[Robb]

19. Agreed. With a big enough savings account, I can live on less than $11K per year.

[JanMichael]

21. yep

he talks about that in his blog.

I wonder why people on the net are so damned angry about someone who chooses to live life differently. Weird.

[dsc]

24. I'm not angry

but I am angry when it gets played, as it has and will, that anyone with an 11k income could do this. No, as he points out, they couldn't. But do you wanna bet that we will hear about this for at least the next few years as what the ideal should be.

On edit I went back and checked and no this entry didn't say he had a better paying job before, it merely mentions the savings account.

[JanMichael]

25. no, he'll be forgotten by Tuesday

When OSB was killed I got jumped on on FB (by friends and relatives) when I said "no one will remember this or talk about it within two weeks...."

I was right too-- haven't heard it mentioned since.

Our historical memories in the US last about 3 days now.

[Malikshah]

27. What about Chronic conditions that require quite expensive prescription therapy?

MS for example

[JanMichael]

28. what about them?

This guy clearly doesn't have a chronic condition.

[Malikshah]

64. lucky him...nature always has a way of culling the herd, though.

[glennm01]

35. It's Me...

This is Glenn from To Simplify... I saw the traffic coming to my blog from here, and thought I'd check out the scene. Wow, folks, some pretty ballsy words being tossed around here in my honor! I'm sort of impressed! The whole "Foolish fucking fool pandering irresponsible smug arrogant idiocy," wow, you just can't teach that. Forgive me then for responding with some measure of decency.

Before I make any huge ignorant assumptions, you know, like the kind that are getting tossed around here with reckless abandon, exactly what is the problem with a guy only carrying high deductible health insurance and believing he can tilt the odds heavily in his favor through very careful attention to his lifestyle (i.e. diet, sleep, low stress, etc.)? Who's rights am I violating? At least, last time I checked, the right to life was still more or less intact in the USA.

I have taken the steps to ensure that I can handle a $5000 deductible if needed, but because I'd rather NOT part with it, it makes for a powerful incentive to take meticulous care of myself. What about that is so offensive to some of you? The way I see it, I'm taking full responsibility for my health, and that is precisely what we need more of if we hope to save our crumbling health care system.

My policy, by the way, covers everything once the $5k is reached. So even if, under some unlikely (albeit possible) scenario, I find myself spending $5k every single year for health care, that comes out to $600 per month. I know lots of middle class people who spend that much eating out every month. I simply choose to save that money for a much more important purpose if necessary. Granted, I would no longer be living on $11k/year, but $16/year still sounds pretty low, and as stated on my blog, I don't live on such a small amount because I have to, but because I *choose* to. And hey, I'm 42 and in great shape, so let's all agree that the odds are heavily in my favor that I won't have a claim every single year, meaning I'll be able to contribute to my HSA instead, which (hopefully) will grow in time, and therefore be increasingly likely to cover the deductible whenever the worst happens.

If anyone cares to explain in rational terms how this is a bad approach to health care, I'd love to hear why.

Glenn
www.tosimplify.net

[JanMichael]

38. heh

Thanks for posting Glenn...I am kind of surprised at the vitriol here when my post of your blog was only meant to state "since everyone asked, he addressed this on his blog."

I think your lifestyle sounds fascinating. Good luck to you on the road!

[Jumping John]

40. I am kind of surprised at the vitriol

in your posts since this is a forum and discussion of posts are expected.

[Jumping John]

39. Andf I still think it is not a good plan just because you have the means to pay. Is there a lifetime

limit on this coverage?

[HughBeaumont]

43. Here's the thing.

I don't think anyone is so much begrudging you in terms of how you choose to live life. There probably is value in simplifying, yet it may not work for everyone (particularly larger families).

I think it's moreso the timing and the tone of the piece itself. The way Yahoo presented it . . . it just comes off as a "STFU Poor People" story, or yet another reinforcement of the PTB's favorite cliche: "See? Living with way less is EASY if you just put your mind and hard hard hard work to use! The only thing stopping you is YOU!"

What if we think plunging yearly incomes and declining standards of living are problems rather than situations to merely accept and make the best of? When will 11 to 20 thousand a year be "too much"? Yeah, it works for you . .. but that income's not really working for the savings-void struggling single mom trying to send her kid to school and/or make rent and electricity. That's not going to work for someone who only has now and the bills in front of them. That insurance situation isn't going to work to someone who's had the unfortunate luck of bad genetics.

We should be expecting MORE out of life, not being told how to make do with less because it works for only 1 out of every 10,000 people.

[Starry Messenger]

51. +1000

Agree with every line.

[senseandsensibility]

44. I think people are concerned that your ideas will be used

as propaganda by the right. Have you thought about that? How do you feel about single payer?

[glennm01]

68. Propaganda...

...is only effective if people fail to think for themselves, in which case, they probably get what they deserve.

Glenn
www.tosimplify.net

[closeupready]

46. It's a bad approach for ... poor people. People who are illiterate and/or unemployed.

Who have children to raise, or chronic illnesses, or pre-existing conditions.

Taking personal responsibility would mean people like that would be wiped out financially whereas if there were single payer, it would be less likely.

Also:

>>The way I see it, I'm taking full responsibility for my health, and that is precisely what we need more of if we hope to save our crumbling health care system.<<

This part is complete bullshit for the above-referenced groups.

It's almost like you can't WAIT for your "plan", such that it is, to become a media talking point as to why "personal responsibility" and picking yourself up by your bootstraps is the total answer for the flawed US health care system, which it probably will have a place somewhere on the RW agenda.

[lumberjack_jeff]

50. Kudos to you. I don't subscribe to the vitriol, but here's their basis.

For decades, people have defended the status quo on the basis of the individual anecdote. "If Glenn can do it, why can't you?", when as you point out, you're not living in poverty, you're choosing voluntary simplicitly - a world view I wholeheartedly support. It's a pre-emptive strike on the inevitable rationalizations.

What you're doing is a good way for a healthy individual with ample savings to work around the current state of insurance. We'd all be better off if that paradigm were changed through health finance reform.

Your lifestyle is a great example for the 1-2% of people like you, and enviable to the rest of us.

[tibbiit]

54. I like your blog

And I like your idea. I think its great to simply life! I wish I could do it myself. I have an old friend who has done much the same thing. I will pass along your blog to him.
tib

[hunter]

55. Hi, Glen.

If you'd had access to a friendly neighborhood government supported clinic which you felt entirely free to visit any time, even for an infected hangnail, bad cold, or stomach ache...

...would you have suffered a ruptured appendix?

Maybe you'd have gotten appropriate medical care before your appendix ruptured.

Maybe not (if you are like me and loathe doctor visits, paid for or not) but some people would have acted upon their "stomach ache" before their appendix ruptured and this would reduce everyone's collective health care costs.

If I ever get around to simplifying my own life again I simply won't have health insurance. My odds of escaping cruel fate seem about the same to me with or without health insurance.

[cbayer]

56. Welcome, Glenn!

As I said elsewhere in the thread, I get some of the same kind of negative reactions from people, and I generally feel that it is driven by envy.

Hope you stick around. We have members who are striving to get where you are and I think your input is very valuable.

:hi:

[TheKentuckian]

57. It isn't bad to do, it is your option and what you determine to work best for you.

The problem is that it is a misleading model for most people that fits well with the conservative "common wisdom" that will kick 9/10 in the ass and maybe bury them for life.

Between the reduced cost of a higher deductible plan that can be put into my FSA, I'm considering making a similar move myself but that doesn't mean I don't believe that it works best for most or even many because I generally don't believe it even is the best way to go for myself but in this case the price point is exactly right that it gives me the flexibility to move some of those premium dollars to address dental concerns that I would have a difficult time paying for otherwise, if my luck holds and that deductible doesn't need to be paid. Once the dental work is squared away then I'd move back to comprehensive because loading that FSA up would be more likely to just be wasted anyway.

Maybe the option for a HSA that could roll into subsequent years would alter my outlook but dealing with insurance and seeing costs makes me inclined to believe that outside of being fortunate, it is between difficult to impossible to honestly and actually be "a wise consumer of health care" because the reality is shit happens and if that account should be drained, it may become very difficult to keep it up on limited means. Facing paying a deductible that is an appreciable percentage of my gross income is not sustainable and there is absolutely no way to make sure you don't end up on that hamster wheel all the sudden.

I don't have $600 for eating out or health maintenance every month. Hell, I don't have $600 for a total food budget. Most people don't. $7,200 is a huge chunk for the majority of Americans, especially when you are now talking post-tax, post-premium dollars.

So, I don't think anybody is saying anything about you as much as your game plan being presented as a broadly applicable model that even low income folks can get by with because they can't in most circumstances for any extended period.

Works for you=fine. This is how we need to approach health care=get the fuck outta here.

As long as you know you are pretty much a fortunate outlier that is playing his cards very well and can afford to lose a well considered bet then most will have no beef.

[Gormy Cuss]

60. The problem is twofold: one, if people point to your blog as evidence that people are too greedy

in their desire for good health care coverage, and 2) if you get very sick and discover that the "covers everything above the deductible" plan has more holes than Swiss cheese and you end up on Medicaid.

Other than that, you're free to play the odds, although unless you have good genes behind those healthful living habits the odds probably aren't as good as you think at your age. There are simple risk calculators available on the web. Have you availed yourself of those or something similar, or are you just playing a hunch?



eta: welcome to DU.

[Warren Stupidity]

61. "Other than that, you're free to play the odds" - not if we want a system that works for everyone.

A system that works for everyone requires everyone who is able to pay into the shared risk pool to pay into the shared risk pool. It can't work if healthy people are allowed to opt out and only unhealthy people are in the pool. That is why there has to be a "mandate" either the awful one in the current legislation that requires one to buy private health insurance, or a much more reasonable one that would expand the existing MEDICARE MANDATE - i.e. the shit taken out of your paycheck every week that is FICA but not SS - to put everyone into the medicare system.

[Gormy Cuss]

65. I was referring to our current system, not what is best for the country. n/t

[glennm01]

69. But the FACT is...

...we do NOT have a system like that. So in the interest of deal with things as they ARE, my solution is a major improvement over having zero coverage. For me. And probably a lot of people. But sure, not all.

Glenn
www.tosimplify.net

[rucky]

62. Go for it, Glenn! It's as good a strategy as any

to sway the odds more in your favor.

But it's still gambling.

[Ikonoklast]

63. What are your plans if you are diagnosed with a long-term ailment?

Do you have a fall-back position, or will you take things as they come? That HSA will get eaten up in short order by a debilitating disease.

You must be able to see how the article as written may be construed as being very condescending in tone to many who see it as a "See, this guy lives on next to nothing, you worthless proles could learn from him!" type of deal, disregarding the fact that you *choose* to live this way, and are able to, which is just not do-able for someone with a family, or with little or no monetary resources to begin with.

It would be interesting to see what your total net worth is, and how much liquid capital you have immediate access to.

People with means and resources even less than (ostensibly) yours are being told by those with great wealth to do without, when in all reality, they have been doing without their entire lives and are now expected to do with *nothing*.


You must know some fairly spendthrift middle-class people that spend $600.00 a month eating out, I don't even know anyone that could afford that amount...but, then again, most people I know live frugally because they *have* to, not by choice.

In any event, best of luck in your endeavors.

[ThoughtCriminal]

66. Hi! Welcome!

After my divorce, I had been planning to take a very similar path. But for now, I'm sitting in a house I can't sell and a pretty good job, so I'm putting it off for at least a few more years. The other factor is health insurance - I have very good coverage now through my job and I've had the experience of waging a long and costly battle with private insurance companies over what constitutes a pre-existing condition (their position - if you were ever sick, anything and everything is a pre-existing condition).

I think the reaction that you are seeing here is to the idea that the type of health coverage that you have is an adequate substitute for real single-payer universal coverage. We hear it all the time from right-wingers who try to convince everyone that our health care system is just fine (hey this guy can get coverage for $80 a month so what's the problem?). For people with pre-existing conditions and/or a family to consider, I don't think that they would find this lifestyle practical.

But for what it's worth, I think that you have good advice and I look forward to checking in at your blog often.

[glennm01]

67. Oops...

Sorry for the bad math...$5k a year comes out to $416 per month. Boneheaded mistake, but my brain is a little taxed by all this publicity.

And I'm sorry if the Yahoo article came across as some sort of arrogant prescription for the masses, as some of you seem to be saying. That has never been my intent, and once the interview was over, as with most interviews, I really had no control over what they chose to do with it. Live and learn, I guess. So let me set the record straight -- this is how *I* live, and it makes sense for *me*. Period. If there's something constructive some are able to take away from my story, that's awesome. If not, I sincerely wish you all the best in finding your own path.

Glenn
www.tosimplify.net

[lumberjack_jeff]

70. +1 n/t

[riderinthestorm]

72. Welcome to DU!

I honestly don't have any commentary pro or con on your path (my own path is definitely unorthodox and certainly not for everyone either) but wanted to make sure you knew that DU is a discussion board and there's a lot of opinions here....

Hope you stick around! I think your voice would be an excellent addition to the conversation.

[TreasonousBastard]

75. Great job, Glenn...

This is something I've thought of, but never got around to.

I am constantly gobsmacked by the people who have no problem telling you, me, and anyone else crossing their paths exactly how they should live, spend their money, where they should work... And so much of the time there seems to be this epidemic of dyslexia on the order of:

"You only make $11,000 a year? Bullshit!"

"No, I only spend $11,000 a year.

"Bullshit-- you can't spend $11,000 when you only make $11,000"

And so it goes...

Even more fun when they rant on about some personal crusade that this only vaguely relates to.

I suspect what really galls them is that someone is successful and creative when all they do is complain.

Anyway, good luck to you.

[hunter]

41. Health insurance only works for short term problems...

...those illnesses or accidents you quickly recover from, or those that kill you right away without a lot of medical intervention.

It's the chronic and recurring problems that wipe you out. There's no insurance against those. Illnesses and accidents that cause chronic, lifetime health problems can happen to anybody no matter how healthy their lifestyle is, or how optimistic their outlook is.

My wife and I are both uninsurable. We can't buy individual policies. My wife does have expensive high deductible insurance through her work which begins to pay out at $8000-10,000, depending on the circumstances. Some things it simply won't pay for.

Our annual individual insurance and medical expenses each exceed the $11,000 income Mr. Simplify lives on. There's been quite a few long periods when my out of pocket prescription and medical costs have exceeded $600 a month. Fortunately I'm now stable on mostly generic meds, and paying about $250.

All in all, I don't believe the "protection" of health insurance is anything close to what it's sold as, most especially for high-deductible catastrophic plans. The protection these plans offer a customer is mostly an illusion. The hospital accountants might appreciate these plans when someone really, really sick is occupying their beds, but by then you as a patient are no longer worrying about paying bills.

The health insurance industry in the U.S.A. needs to be done away with. Quite a few of health insurance company executives need to be tried for murder and mayhem and thrown in prison. It's a protection racket of the worst sort, preying on people's most basic fears. The health insurance industry itself is the direct cause of the extreme health care costs they claim to offer protection against. Higher health care costs only increase the revenue stream these industries control, and that is their bottom line, those are the only numbers they look at. They don't really give a fuck about their customer's actual health, they only care about the money they can suck out of customers while they are healthy.

The U.S.A. needs a single payer national health care system now. That would simplify the lives of everyone.

[Bonobo]

45. The article claimed that is $80/month health care helped his appendicitis operation.

It was misleading.

Furthermore, he was quoted as saying "I can't understand why some many people say they can't afford health insurance."

Misleading again, he has a $5,000 deductible. So if you don't have $5,000 in cash EVERY YEAR, it won't work. And even if you do, a minor illness like appendicitis or a broken bone will wipe out your ENTIRE SAVINGS.

It was a BS article serving the elite and ignoring and papering over the real issues of the impoverished.

[JanMichael]

48. so, in other words

you haven't read his blog. Just the article which the blogger himself said was misleading.

I am going to state this AGAIN...one more time....then I am going outside to enjoy the day. I do not think his approach would work for very many people. In fact, I think it would not work for most...including us....

I think we need single payer now.

I found his approach INTERESTING.

[Bonobo]

49. I read part of it including THAT part. nt

[glennm01]

71. Get your quote right

Quoting the article:

"I don't understand young people who say, 'I can't afford health insurance.'"

Emphasis mine. I should have included the word "employed" after "young." Forgive me. I stand by this. No one in that situation (young and employed) should be without at least major medical coverage and still claim to be living responsibly.

And there are far worse things than losing $5k in savings. Dying, for example.

Again, the system we have is far from perfect, as is my way of dealing with it. Maybe the health care situation in this country will get fixed someday, but in the meantime, one does what one can, and gets busy living.

[uppityperson]

73. Lowest for me is $200/month with a $10,000 deductible. I'd love to have 1/2 that deductible

but can't afford paying any more than I do.

[riderinthestorm]

74. My husband has a $10k deductible AND $1200 per month premium.

Yup, $15k in premiums annually, AND a $10k deductible. We pay out the ass for tests and meds as well for him. It's funny because for decades we had a much lower premium and deductible even as he's been a professional athlete in a high risk sport (relatively injury free, knock on wood).

But then he came up with stage IV, grade IV lymphoma... it's in remission now but we are slammed for health insurance. Can't live without it - his bills (that we would have had to pay already if we didn't have insurance) are well up over a million dollars for his treatment. When/if he relapses, he's in for a stem cell transplant - easily another million.

Glenn's story is compelling but for too many, it's utterly unavailable.