to live or die...

with or without health insurance. i just don't get the health insurance industry. why am i paying 2200 dollars a year for you to cover nothing unless i pay an additional 500? so why am i paying 2700 dollars for nothing?

i go to the doctor once a year, as a responsible person does. i spend 30 bucks. ok i can do that. then months later, after spiders have spun and ditched their webs, i receive a bill for 200 dollars. 140 of which was nicely covered. leaving me with the remainder. still that's only 6o bucks out of pocket. not bad, not bad. and then i get a "this is not a bill" notice stating that i MAY owe my provider 900 dollars for the testing and blood work.

they have yet to tell me if i do in fact owe them this money. apparently there isn't enough information for them to decide if they should cover it. i guess the jury is still out.

now, this blood work and testing was a bit out of the ordinary. i haven't been to a doctor in a while. (my comment above was mostly pointing to my desire to be responsible and go to a doctor regularly.) so i had her run a few more tests than a normal visit would entail. but they weren't anything out of the ordinary. they were all tests that any patient might request from their doctor fairly often. but no coverage unless i paid my deductible. 500 buckaroos. well they haven't decided that yet.

but i did the math. i pay them 2200 a year as my monthy costs. i should pay an additional 500. now my yearly doctor bills, for 2008, came out to 1100. i would be up 1100 dollars if i dropped my health insurance. god that sounds good. and i don't expect my doctor bills to be that high ever again. i suspect they will be closer to 200 dollars for this entire year. (this does not include dental or vision which i have a separate plan for, and only pay 40 bucks a month for.) if my prediction is correct i would save 2000 dollars a year by NOT having health insurance.

the problem is the unknown. cars on the street, daily crime rates, all those police dramas on tv, accidents on the train, even flu and strept viriuses floating about. all these things make me cling to my health insurance. what if i find out i have cancer. you can't get health insurance if you already have cancer. they won't take you. it increases their risk. their monetary intake. what if any of these things happen to me?

oh the what if? do i buy into it? do i ignore it? will that mean whether i live or die? i live in major city; there's free clinics. but really how much do i save? according to an article in the chicago sun-times, the average cost of a hospital stay (5 days) costs 7500. now paying 2700 doesn't seem so bad.

maybe obama will come up with a grand plan?