The concept of health insurance is fundamentally flawed. Every time my paycheck comes to me I look at the deductions, and there it is, staring up at me so insipidly, health insurance deductions.
I’m a relatively healthy person. I probably go to see a healthcare professional once every two years. And, usually, the only reason I’m going to see a doctor is because I can’t write a prescription for antibiotics myself. So, I go sit in the waiting room for 45 minutes, surrounded by contagious sickies, only to be ushered quickly through the examination room and out through the exit with a prescription.
And, what do I get for all my trouble? A twenty dollar copay bill.
After two years of paying my health insurance, I still have to pay a copay.
It’s not fair, I think to myself as I write the check. Hell, I would have done a lot better by just opening a savings account and calling it my health fund!
Today, I was considering this and actually playing with the idea of canceling my policy when it hit me. What if something bad happens? What if I catch a bad illness or have a crazy accident? What then?
What if I get a bill for thirty thousand dollars because I just barely survived a horrible para-sailing accident.
Not that I para-sail, but you never know!
And, that is the problem with health insurance: health insurance is a bet against ourselves.
I say that’s a problem, when realistically I mean that it’s the only thing that keeps health insurance alive.
Every penny that we pay toward health insurance is a penny raised in a bet against our own well-being. If we win the bet, and get all of our money back, it means that we have lost a physical bet: our health. If we lose the bet, and never get ill, the insurance company wins the financial bet – they get the money.
In essence, health insurance is each and every one of us betting that we’re not up to the challenge of staying healthy and that we’re more likely to brain ourselves in a horrible and stupid accident than we are to live long and healthy lives.
Furthermore, the likelihood that we will need help, outside of the means a savings account would afford, us is extremely unlikely. I think we have a sick fascination with the number of accidents there are on the roads every year, but the truth is that most people NEVER die in a car accident. Most people NEVER get life-threatening diseases.
So, why do we do it? Why do we fund an industry that’s making money on both sides of the deal? Why do we perpetuate this insanity?
I decided to cancel my policy. To free myself once and for all from the extortion that feeds itself.
As I walked to the human resources office to end the tyranny, I stopped and turned back to my office. And, as I slowly trudged to my desk, I realized that I keep betting against myself because It’s a bet I can’t afford to win…
