Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Health Insurance: To Buy or Not to Buy? That is the question

Hi everyone!
I am back to continue our discussions.
Many of us are fortunate enough to have employers who provide a significant portion of our health insurance coverage. Today I am very grateful for that but that has not always been the case. I need to tell a story. Being a nurse, my employment options have always been fairly solid, i.e. among other things my Health Insurance policy has always been provided with very little out of pocket expense. Not to long ago I was transitioning out of one job/employer with the intent to take a break and “find myself”. My little break meant I would be paying my own health insurance. I could not believe how much it cost! This was just for myself (but it was very good coverage)…I really couldn’t even guess what it might have cost if it was a family policy…Oh My Gosh! So, I am paying my way and there is no income…you can imagine this might not last very long. I also ran up some additional expenses. Suddenly I ran out of money and didn’t have another job lined up at the moment. I depleted my entire savings, had an excessive amount of revolving debt and had More Out-Go than In-Come. I was riding a very thin financial line.

All this story to say that at that point, if a large expense occurred I would have absolutely no resources to manage. I could easily see how the middle management, middle aged person can end up sleeping in a cardboard box down by the river. I was very fortunate to be able to secure another position (one that is right for me) that provided benefits. I managed to get my revolving (credit cards) debt down while I checked on other options. I could see the abyss and it was scary. I can now see how people could let themselves be without insurance. Similar decisions as to whether to take the dog in for her yearly vaccinations or pay the electric bill are somewhat common at my house these days.

Now, we can finally get to the question of can you go without insurance??? My opinion is a big fat NO!

What do you guys think about this topic? Let me hear from you. I will return later and continue...unless you guys give me something else to talk about.

Alice

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