Planning on dropping Health Insurance. Change my mind.

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Myth Busters did a piece on the proverbial bull in a china shop.... quite amusing...

I remember when that came out lol. I loved mythbusters back then and used to watch all the reruns.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

So the bull threw the china, or walked through the china?

 

[Garandman]

The Pink Elephant in the room is that none of this needs to be so high priced. They do it because they can. No one challenges them. No one says no, you can't charge $10 for a single aspirin.

Had three stitches in my chin at the doctor痴 office in 1958, $12.

Three stitches and got sent to the emergency room in 2005. $2,200.

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

So the bull threw the china, or walked through the china?

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

Why get unsecured loan or borrow against 401 ,if you refinance your house or get equity loan

I won’t touch the equity in the house. I won’t touch the equity in anything I own, I could prob put my truck up as collateral on a loan but I’m not going to.

It’s like using cash instead of credit, it hurts more so you use it less. Unsecured debt consolidation loan (what I call it), is a good reminder to make more spending cuts and pay it off ASAP instead of putting it on the back burner because it’s only 3% on a home equity line of credit.

I read a few studies that showed people who pay in cash spend less compared to credit or debit. Psychologically spending cash is more painful for a person vs swiping a card.

 

[KubotainNH]

Would have to run the numbers but you're probably better off putting the extra mortgage money into one of the other items like CC or if your tractor has interest. The mortgage rate you have is pretty low. Focus on paying the highest interest item (usually a CC) with your extra then once it's paid on move to the next item. Go to a local library and see if they have any Dave Ramsey books or Cds, looks up the debt snowball. Good stuff.

As for the insurance dealio, certainly don't drop it because you don't know what is around the corner and you have assets you want to keep. What kinda burns my butt on insurance is you see the bill the doc puts out and then it goes through the insurance company and ends up being a 3rd of the cost on some things. Especially lab fees. I guess I should be happy I'm paying a better price on them until I hit my deductible but still seems like a huge difference and seems wrong.

 

[tjkubota93]

The funny thing is Hospitals are closing all around the country... must not be all that lucrative a business.

What other business is regulated to provide care to all without regard to payment?

Some would argue regulation is very much a part of the problem...

I think if you dont have insurance or money you should not be allowed in the hospital.

But each county or city should have a free hospital for people that have trouble paying for whatever reason.

 

[D2Cat]

KubotainNH, what you state here, "Focus on paying the highest interest item (usually a CC) with your extra then once it's paid on move to the next item. Go to a local library and see if they have any Dave Ramsey books or Cds, looks up the debt snowball. Good stuff." is not what Dave Ramsey teaches.

 

[4570Man]

But each county or city should have a free hospital for people that have trouble paying for whatever reason.

That pretty much stops the bleeding. If the problem is not life threatening than send them on their way. Don’t waste tons of money fighting terminal diseases either. When my time comes I want to go in a quick and as painless as possible fashion regardless of who is paying. When your pet reaches the end of its life it’s considered the right thing to do to put it down. Why prolong your loved one suffering for months or years. I’m not suggesting euthanizing but let it happen naturally and stop with the life “saving” stuff. Leaving your family ( even if they’re the ones making the decisions ) drowning in debt only to prolong the inevitable when your quality of life is gone is stupid IMO. And like I said in in the 4th sentence I don’t want to live like that even if insurance is paying.

 

[4570Man]

Had three stitches in my chin at the doctorç—´ office in 1958, $12.

Three stitches and got sent to the emergency room in 2005. $2,200.

I got 3 stitches in my hand at the ER. In hindsight I wouldn’t have died or caused any other problems by taping it up and going to the private clinic in the morning. After cutting my hand again and quite a bit worse I went to the private clinic. I don’t remember that bill, but with me paying the whole thing no insurance involved was less than $100. My portion of the ER visit was $600.