My Adventures in Supply Side Medicine.

[tech3149]

4. I have to ask, do you think that is reasonable?

I've had health insurance through work and the valuation was about 15% of my pay rate. My use of primary care was generally about once a year. Emergency care was about three times in three decades. During that period I put far more into the insurance that I ever got from it.

My ex worked for a company that was too close to a big retailer. When they got in trouble and declared bankruptcy that was the end of her company. Here's were the fun of COBRA comes in. Her company was "self insured" When they were trying to advise people about health insurance options they had to tell people the best they could do was $900/mo for an individual.

I quit working for a wage back in 2002. Because of my generally good health and judgment I couldn't justify paying the rate for health insurance. That rate of $228/mo would be great but if you choose that sort of plan chances are you aren't going to have the cash to cover that deductible or the co-pay.

I had an incident a few years ago that resulted in a four day stay in the hospital. They ran every diagnostic test they had. Twice a day blood work, CT scans, MRI, stress tests. They threw all they had at me and couldn't tell me what the problem was that put me in the hospital.
That wonderful experience cost me $24K. I probably paid three time that amount when I did have "health insurance".

This is just another story that shows the system is broke, and it's broke for a reason. Some people are making a lot of money because the system is rigged for their benefit.