Do I need health insurance?
This is a very important question to ask yourself because there are many who didn’t have health insurance and suffered serious financial hardships and even had to file bankruptcy due to an unexpected hospital visit.
Your health is the driving force of your life! If you became extremely ill for what ever reason, what would happen to you financially?
Unless you are one of those fortunate individuals who have set-up themselves nicely, I would imagine that your financial outlook could become quite grim.
Have you ever spent a few days lying in a hospital bed while the doctors ran tests? Well if you haven’t been fortunate enough to experience such a glorious and gratifying venture, let me inform you that just two days in a hospital can land you a $3,000 bill and higher in some cases!
Imagine paying $3.00-$5.00 for one Tylenol tablet. Where at Wal-Mart, you can get 30 for that amount! And by no means gash your head and have to get rushed to the emergency room for a few hours, you can be looking forward to a hefty $1,300 for that one! So again, the question is do I need health insurance?
A friend of mine, who established himself as an independent contractor, decided that it’s cheaper to pay for any medical expenses when needed rather than pay a monthly health insurance bill. His wife became pregnant and since he didn’t know anything about medical costs, he continued to go with his first thought of not buying health insurance.
A visit here and a visit there; $200 here and $400 there – no big deal because he made pretty good money and carrying health insurance would have cost him about $300-$500 a month for his entire family. Nine months later, his baby boy was born and he received a nice $18,000 hospital bill as a token of appreciation for bringing a new life into the world we live.
Yes, he learned the hard way as to the importance of health insurance. Luckily for him however, he’s fortunate to make a very good living so it didn’t destroy him financially, but there are many people and families that have been destroyed financially due to unexpected high medical bills.
If you are a heavy smoker or drinker, or someone who lives an adventurous life such as: rock climbing, jet skiing, sky diving, skateboarding, motocross or playing an extreme sport – make sure that you are carrying some type of health insurance or else you can be in for a serious financial hardship.
