Author’s note: If you are like most Americans, you probably want to have health insurance. You might like having it. You might even need it. Don’t let my ranting change your mind. I am not advising anyone to do what I am doing.
I haven’t had “real” health insurance for over a year.
In 2018, I chose Liberty Healthshare as my health “insurance”. I paid $199 a month for it. Until six months later when it was raised to $249. Six months after that it was raised again to $299. I didn’t file a claim or see a doctor for myself at all during the entire year.
Liberty states quite clearly that it is not health insurance. Here’s what it says on it’s website (bold emphasis is my own):
This program is not an insurance company nor is it offered through an insurance company. This program does not guarantee or promise that your medical bills will be paid or assigned to others for payment. Whether anyone chooses to pay your medical bills will be totally voluntary. As such, this program should never be considered as a substitute for an insurance policy. Whether you receive any payments for medical expenses and whether or not this program continues to operate, you are always liable for any unpaid bills.
I wrote about why I chose Liberty Healthshare in this post.
At the end of 2018, I researched my options for ACA health insurance in 2019. The only plans with decent coverage would cost me $600 month with deductibles up to $7K. That meant I’d be paying over $14K before anything would be covered. Considering I haven’t been to a doctor in 10 years, I choked on this amount.
There are subsidies to reduce the costs, but they require that I meet specific income thresholds. If I earn too much or too little, the subsidies disappear and I am on the hook to pay the full amount retroactively for the entire year.
There were to many what-ifs for me to consider this a viable option:
- My consulting business had tanked earning me just $1000 in 2018.
- My wife’s health was continuing to worsen. Caring for her had become my full time job and #1 priority.
- I couldn’t predict if my wife would even be alive in 2019. This would impact our income (her social security) and also my eligibility as the income requirements differ for a single person vs a married couple.
So I decided to stick with Liberty. Even with the cost increases, I figured any coverage was better than none.
Plus, I was completely consumed with caring for Ellen and had little capacity to deal with this.
It’s now been 6 weeks since my wife died. I’ve had plenty of time to think about this.
I cancelled Liberty Healthshare yesterday.
Reason #1 – I was concerned with the “no guarantee…totally voluntary…not a substitute for insurance” clause. It’s not insurance and there is no recourse if they don’t pay a claim.
Reason #2 – Suspect marketing. I’ve read many good reviews of Liberty online. But I’m suspicious of online reviews in general, having seen too many fake reviews before. A lot of bloggers alo rave about Liberty. So many that I wonder if they are receiving affiliate money and/or direct payment for their “reviews”.
Reason #3 – My distrust and dissatisfaction with the medical industry. This is the biggest and most important reason.
I witnessed doctors over-test, over-treat and over-prescribe medications to my wife for nearly 30 years.
We’ve fought with insurance companies, dealt with bureaucratic nonsense and overpaid for the “latest” medications that the Big Pharma convinced doctors to prescribe.
Every issue has striking similarities: more visits, more tests, more drugs and, of course, more costs.
I just don’t buy it.
I haven’t been to a doctor in ten years.
I’m fortunate that I have been very healthy and have had no serious injuries. I pay cash to the Minute Clinic for flu shots and an occasional strep throat culture.
Everything else I do for healthcare is self-directed, self-paid and self-treated. It’s exercise, fresh air, diet, yoga, mediation, rest, etc.
I have no plans to ever see a doctor and go to a hospital.
I pay cash for dental work and for eye exams.
So I cancelled Liberty. I am now completely without health insurance coverage.
I spoke to my mother and my friend about this. Both brought up the obvious concerns:
- What if I’m in an accident?
- I’m 50. My health will decline as I age.
- What if I’m unconscious and taken to a hospital?
I live a relatively risk-free life. I drive very little. I bike on the sidewalks or side streets only. I have no risky hobbies. I am quite healthy.
If I have an accident and break an arm or leg, I’ll go the the ER as a self-pay, uninsured patient. They’ll treat me and charge me. I’ll do my best to negotiate for a reduced rate and make payments.
If I am diagnosed with a terminal condition like cancer or ALS (which would seem impossible since I won’t be going to a doctor) my plan is to kill myself. There is zero chance I will go through what my wife went through.
The worst case scenario would be if I became disabled and was unable to kill myself. If that happens, it would be a disaster. I’ll lose everything – savings, house, ability to work, freedom, mobility, independence and more.
But I cannot plan my life based on low-probability, what-if worst case scenarios.
Besides, I’ve already lived the worst case scenario.
My wife, the love of my life, had lung cancer. She was tortured with ineffective treatments and suffered grueling pain before dying a miserable death. And I could do nothing to relieve her pain or make her death easier.
When I weigh anything else against this, it falls short.
I suppose if I was working for a company that offered health insurance as a benefit, I would purchase the least expensive plan offered. But I’m not 100% certain about this anymore. I might still stick with self pay. I’ve seen some lousy insurance plans out there.
I refuse to live a fear-based life.
Insurance is designed to prey upon our fears. It relies on fear, uncertainty and doubt to make us think we’ll be the rare person who will incur huge medical costs.
Our culture and government add to this. If you watch the news, you’ll be pitched at least 5 new (and expensive) drugs via commercials and there will be a health segment highlighting some “potential threat to your health” that you’ll likely never have.
In the meantime, health insurance companies rely on solid actuarial data (plus denials, obfuscation, exclusions, abysmal customer support, and bureaucratic nonsense) to ensure they make huge profits.
I may not be able to affect this system but I refuse to play the game anymore.
Health insurance was crucial for my wife who had multiple chronic health problems. Without it, we’d have been bankrupt multiple times in the past 30 years. She’d have been dead or completely incapacitated long ago.
I was grateful she had health insurance.
I believe that good health care is something we should be providing to all members of our society. Clearly our health insurance system and medical/pharmaceutical system is broken with it’s #1 focus on increasing profits vs. caring for human beings. I’ll write about this another day.