Post: #1

I've never bothered with health insurance or any other type of insurance (other than auto insurance because the state requires it).

My overall impression however is that insurance is for pussies and I have no desire for it; it's basically just gambling anyway, throwing your money in a pot and hoping you "hit the jackpot" when you get your leg broken in a car accident - even when you "win", you still lose.

I don't know when it was invented by I guarantee you our grandfathers went day to day without any health, life, or bla bla blah insurance and lived just fine, the best insurance IMO is to live a productive, healthy life, rather than become a lazy slob and then you won't have to worry about avoidable health problems and early deaths.

The fact that so many people today including adults (e.x. baby boomers like my parents) think that insurance is mandatory for their life is embarrassing, people today are so sheltered that they wouldn't have lasted 10 seconds as members of the WWII generation who made this country what it is, just so baby boomers and millennials could destroy it.

Post: #2

...so you're saying you're too Alpha for insurance?

Post: #3

I wouldn't necessarily say that. Imagine, out of the blue, you get cancer. Without an insurance and tons of cash you won't be able to pay for the treatments. Or you hurt yourself while doing woodwork. A little surgery easily costs a couple of thousand dollars.
So one day, you might hit the "jackpot". But if you're insured, at least you won't get broke because of horrendous medical expenses.

Post: #4

I'm fine with this, but OP you can never seek medical services for the rest of your life.

Post: #5

(06-01-2016 04:37 PM)samsamsam Wrote:  I'm fine with this, but OP you can never seek medical services for the rest of your life.

True, however statistically I don't believe the majority of people ever suffer a life-threatening injury.

Plus plenty of other health problems can likely be avoided by learning basic survival skills, or just avoiding bad lifestyle habits.

Post: #6

Car insurance is pussy. What sort of wimp carries liability insurance on his vehicle? Limp-wristed, queerer-than-a-3-dollar-bill fags, that's who. And men who carry full coverage on their precious autocarriages? I hope they have plenty of tampons in Hell for those sad fucks.

Don't even get me started on health insurance --my iPhone couldn't handle my alpha rage.

Post: #7

You are taking a gamble in the US and it pays off as long as you avoid a serious injury or illness. You may be young and in good health, but even young people suffer freak accidents and are befallen to illness. Basic emergency health coverage protects you from having to pay a potentially huge cost.

It's not "hitting the jackpot" when you get into a car crash just so you can have it paid for by insurance. What kind of ass backward logic is this?

Anyone who has insurance is a pussy and a lazy slob. I think that applies to a good many members on this forum.

Most with financial means or a well paid job prefer to have medical coverage. Perhaps you are not in this position and have chosen a different course, but the whole medical insurance is for pussies is a poor attempt to be a badass.

Post: #8

I like the idea of catastrophic health insurance just fine. Though after having so many negative experiences with corporations over the past few years, including insurance companies, I'd expect them to try as hard as they could to fuck me over to avoid paying out.

The only times I needed health insurance as an adult I was in the military so I was covered. But the injuries I had could've easily happened to me in normal life. I blew my knee out of nowhere, for example, which probably would've been about $20,000 to take care of, including MRI, surgery, and physical therapy.

I ride motorcycles and spend a lot of time around guns and power tools. It seems pretty stupid to me not to have at least catastrophic health insurance, in case I'm in an accident of some kind. It doesn't need to be my fault, I might get hit by a car because some idiot is texting. A hospital stay could wipe out my entire net worth in that situation, and I definitely don't want my parents or sister to feel like they need to pay for my care because I don't have insurance, which I know they would do if I was fucked up.

So no, I think having catastrophic health insurance is smart. Using health insurance for basic maintenance health care is stupid, in my opinion, because it'd be cheaper for everyone including the doctors to just keep some savings and pay cash for stuff like that.

Post: #9

Thank you for what I imagine will be q thoroughly entertaining thread.

Post: #10

Travel insurance is mandatory. A simple accident/illness in a foreign country will bankrupt you,

I self insure everything else, ie am prepared to replace my own car, contents etc.

Post: #11

I have no idea what health insurance costs in the US as we don't need it in the UK, but I would be interested to know what age you are OP. When I was in my twenties I thought I was indestructible, now I'm in my late thirties and a twisted testicle, a hernia, and a back injury later my perspective has changed. Sometimes in life shit happens, it doesn't have to be a life threatening injury or illness that fucks you up, especially if you live an active lifestyle, which I assume you do.

If your overall impression is that health insurance is for pussies mine is that your post is pointless bravado, not all health problems are avoidable. I hope you never need it. .

Post: #12

I went about 5 years without health insurance in my early 20s, then I dislocated my shoulder, had to get insurance through my job at the time to pay for surgery and PT, all together it cost about 20-30K.

I was so alpha back then.

Post: #13

In California, if you keep a $30k bond (last I checked) with the DMV, you are legally able to use that in the place of carrying auto insurance. I think it's a silly option because you are opening yourself up to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars of liability that's going to eat up that $30k in a heartbeat if the accident is serious and/or your fault... but if you really want to follow the "insurance is for pussies" credo, you might want to look into it.

Personally, I think insurance has its place in my financial schema by limiting the possibility of a wipe-out event to effectively zero. To that end, I'm looking into a $2 million umbrella insurance policy right now. Only about $500 a year and it's essentially a catastrophic health insurance plan but for your entire life instead of just medical bills.

Post: #14

This reads like a johnbozzz question.

A few things:

You are required to have health insurance under US Federal Mandate Affordable Care Act - if you do not then you pay a penalty on your federal income tax for every month you were uninsured unless you qualify for exception.

With exception of I think 3, all states require you to have automotive insurance to have your vehicle on the road.

Above that, insurance is just smart. You can look at is as a waste of money, or a fee you pay to protect your investments. Saving money by not paying homeowner's insurance is nice, unless your house burns down and you have no home and you're out $200k+ in assets. Now having auto insurance will free up some cash unless someone hits your car in a parking lot and you didn't see it happen, or you fuck up and get into a wreck where you are at fault and end up paying out of pocket for damage including medical expenses - which can land you in jail if you can't pay.

It's this kind of thinking that makes people want to slam their head into a table on the Alpha/Beta bullshit. It's "beta" or "pussy" to pay for insurance?

Post: #15

I think you are viewing insurance in the wrong way.

I would recommend that you view it more as a 'risk pool' and ask if you are capable of covering the risk with your own resources, or the cost low enough that you should cover the risk with insurance.

As an example, the five insurances I would consider are car, health, disability, life and renters/home; in order of most important to least starting with car.

1: In my state, car insurance in mandatory with certain minimums, plus I have a car loan so the lender wants coverage also. I got Lo-Jack, partly because it will reduce the insurance rate for theft, but mainly because if anyone steals my car there is a much better chance of recovering the vehicle with no damage. I consider car insurance the most important insurance IF you need a car to get to work,i.e. No car insurance, no car = no work and no income so you need car insurance before most other insurances.

2: Health - I would recommend some policy, even a minimal policy for major illness. I just had a relative had what started out as an injury on the job, turn into a life threatening illness that it expected to cost 'someone' over 200K. With insurance, there is no question or worry about providing treatment. Without health insurance, it is possible that you could be bankrupt and wiped out. It is bad enough to find out you are injured or have a terminal illness, it is worse if there is no way to pay for treatment. Also, while 'ability to pay' is not suppose to effect your treatment in an emergency room, I would not be surprised to find out that people with 'no insurance' get a lower level of care than people who have insurance for the health care costs.

3: Disability - If you become injured and unable to work, it would provide replacement income, usually for five years or until 65/67 retirement age; depending on policy and cost. I purchased to age 65 and it has a six month waiting period before the income starts. While there is SSDI in the United States, the amounts may not be that much, plus there is a fear that over time SSDI will not keep up with the cost of inflation. While it may look like SSDI would be 'ok', remember you will probably have all kinds of extra expenses due to being injured so bad that you are unable to work.

4: Life - If you have anyone that depends on you for income and would be in trouble if something happened to you, life insurance ensures that they will be able to survive if you are not around anymore. I have this to give one last 'assistance' to a few of my family and friends that I care about and want to do what I can do to help them if anything ever happened to me and I was no longer available for them.

5: Renters/Home - I do not have this insurance. The reason is that I minimal furniture and household goods, so I expect in the case of damage to my apartment I would not recover that much. I am talking futon for a bed, particle board furniture and most of my stuff in boxes, ot items that are more of a sentimental value (such as photos that can't be replaced if lost) and just simply not needed. If something ever happened to my apartment and 'it was all gone', one of the few material possessions I would be upset to lose would be my surf board but it is not worth it to pay $150/year, every year, to replace a $800 surf board.
On the other hand, if you have mortgage, the bank will require home insurance, but even if the house is paid off, it is just insane to not insure what is one of your most important or largest assets to 'save money'.

Post: #16

^^^^^^

Basically what he said. There's nothing wrong with health insurance for catastrophic medical issues, because unless you are making Johnny-Depp-prior-to-Amber-Heard bank you're not going to be able to shrug off the cost of heart surgery or major orthopaedic surgery.

Risk management amounts to eliminating those risks you can and preparing for the worst in relation to those that remain, and by definition, some events like a heart attack or car accident are truly outside your control and cannot be consciously eliminated. Fuck, man, MrLemon over in the Everything Else forum had a heart attack and he was physically in good condition - the only risk factor he had was stress.

Cost/benefit analysis does weigh into it - you'd be an idiot to purchase asteroid insurance - but generally insurance is worth thinking about at least.

God save us from people who mean well. -storm

Post: #17

(06-01-2016 05:07 PM)2Wycked Wrote:  Car insurance is pussy. What sort of wimp carries liability insurance on his vehicle? Limp-wristed, queerer-than-a-3-dollar-bill fags, that's who. And men who carry full coverage on their precious autocarriages? I hope they have plenty of tampons in Hell for those sad fucks.

Don't even get me started on health insurance --my iPhone couldn't handle my alpha rage.

His question is valid why all the cats and unicorns? Rude.

Post: #18

EDantes. How much do you make? What could you not replace that you need. How old are you etc..

Any car worth over 3k should have full coverage unless it's like 1000 more a year. There's lots to talk about here

Post: #19

This thread is giving me cancer. Good thing I have health insurance.

Post: #20

Considering I have a chronic condition that requires maintenance medication for the rest of my life that would cost half a grand per month if I paid out of pocket, and I don't consider myself a pussy, no, I don't think health insurance is for pussies.

Post: #21

(06-01-2016 07:21 PM)la bodhisattva Wrote:  Considering I have a chronic condition that requires maintenance medication for the rest of my life that would cost half a grand per month if I paid out of pocket, and I don't consider myself a pussy, no, I don't think health insurance is for pussies.

How old are you? I've never met anyone who doesn't get the meds they need. Broke or ..

Post: #22

I was being a little sarcastic, but I was mainly thinking of how people regularly rely on insurance and drugs to treat the most basic conditions or compensate for unhealthy lifestyle choices.

While I agree that insurance could be a lifesaver in the event of serious medical emergencies or special conditions like what la bodhisattva said, the overall mentality I see today of society at large encouraging dependency is what's irking me.

People not even knowing basic first aid or survival skills as an example.

I haven't totally gone off the grid myself but my goal right now in life is to attempt to do so as much as possible, especially in the event of a future economic collapse.

Post: #23

(06-01-2016 07:29 PM)el mechanico Wrote:  

(06-01-2016 07:21 PM)la bodhisattva Wrote:  Considering I have a chronic condition that requires maintenance medication for the rest of my life that would cost half a grand per month if I paid out of pocket, and I don't consider myself a pussy, no, I don't think health insurance is for pussies.

How old are you? I've never met anyone who doesn't get the meds they need. Broke or ..

30 and single and making enough not to be poor (definitely not low enough for all expense paid, federal and state funded trips to Johns Hopkins) but not enough to casually toss out about $450 per month on medications that simply take the place pancreatic function. If it were an illness that needs three months of treatment or what have you, it's one thing. Instead, it's every month for the next 50 years. I'd rather my employer's insurance supply the meds tri-annually at a fraction of the cost.

Post: #24

Looking at the thread title, I thought this would be a facetious thread, but I was sorely mistaken...

There's a difference between going out and being brave and going out and being stupid. Sooner or later, you're gonna do something stupid, and you'll be in need of some insurance. Better safe than sorry, you know?

Post: #25

I love insurance. All of it.

I'll go to the doctor just to talk. I got my ears cleaned by a Harvard educated otolaryngoligist yesterday.

A few years ago there was a tsunami coming and I had a brand new boat without insurance and I was scared. My homeowners insurance will pay to have my siding cleaned.

There was a girl driving around my neighborhood in a Cadillac CTS a few years back. I thought she was playmate of the year Sara jean underwood. I got behind her and tapped hembumper with my truck. It wasn't her, but hey I got insurance!

I love it!

Aloha!