If I don't need the insurance, then why do I have to pay a fine to opt out of taking it from an insurance company?
One or both of these scenarios probably applies: you are young and healthy, so your purchase is necessary to spread risk over the population as a whole; or you're underestimating the odds of getting a major disease and the cost of paying out-of-pocket.
I'm not saying we shouldn't work to lower health care costs. What I'm saying is that insurance companies pay less than cash customers for health care and they spend a lot of time checking their risk calculations. Over the long term, over the population as a whole, you can't win that game.
Let's work to lower costs and fix that, but realistically, right now, in America, it's not a game you want to play.
One or both of these scenarios probably applies: you are young and healthy, so your purchase is necessary to spread risk over the population as a whole; or you're underestimating the odds of getting a major disease and the cost of paying out-of-pocket.
I'm not saying we shouldn't work to lower health care costs. What I'm saying is that insurance companies pay less than cash customers for health care and they spend a lot of time checking their risk calculations. Over the long term, over the population as a whole, you can't win that game.
Let's work to lower costs and fix that, but realistically, right now, in America, it's not a game you want to play.