That is a great question! As a humanitarian answer, I'd tell you that everyone needs healthcare to provide relief and treatment from illness and injury. Christ tells us that we are to "love each other as we love ourselves", and you'd want treatment if you were suffering, wouldn't you? Financially, I'd say that everyone needs health insurance because those that don't increase the costs for those of us that do. Because they are not shouldering any part of the care that is provided, that cost is passed on to us in the form of higher priced services and goods. By requiring everyone to have health insurance, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) has (along with other measures in the bill) slowed the growth of health care costs from double digit yearly increases to 4% last year. That is reason enough in my book! Thanks for asking!
Co-Founder, TermInsuranceBrokers.com, Goldenzweig Financial Group, Las Vegas, Nevada
The idea of insurance is to protect yourself in the event of a catastrophic financial event by shifting the risk to a third party (the insurance company). Therefore, your only financial responsibility is to pay for a monthly premium and any applicable deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments stated under your policy.
In the case of health insurance, a common catastrophic event is a surgical procedure. For example, if you broke your leg and and the procedure to repair the fracture cost $100,000, you would be responsible for the entire bill if you don't have any health insurance and most people cannot afford to write that check. After the procedure, you may need the aid of equipment to assist you (e.g. crutches), some physical therapy, or medications - these expenses can add up fast too.
Maternity care is a big one as well - the birth of a pre-mature baby can cost over $1,000,000 in expenses for his/her care and development. Maternity care is one of the essential health benefits covered under every individual health plan in marketplace.
I recommend consulting with an experienced health insurance broker who can help you find the best program for your specific needs. I hope the information is helpful - please feel free to contact me for help and if you have any questions. Thanks very much.
President, The Firm of Steven H. Kobrin, LUTCF, 6-05 Saddle River Rd #103, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410
I am answering this question as a consumer, and as someone who is concerned about the state of our country. I sell life insurance for a living, but am very familiar with how the health insurance marketplace works.
I think that everybody does need health insurance, but that everybody shouldn’t need health insurance. At least not the way we provide it these days.
In our current healthcare delivery system, the cost of services is extremely high. Too high, in many cases. There are probably a variety of reasons for this: greed; cost inefficiencies; a litigious legal environment; burdensome government compliance; etc.
This is not to say that we do not deliver superior services. People from the world over come here to get the best of care. But we pay an arm and a leg for it, and we shouldn’t have to.
This has made medical insurance the lesser of two evils. Better to have expensive coverage to minimize your out-of-pocket costs, than to go bankrupt or kill your credit record with huge outstanding debt. Or to have too many people exploit the willingness of healthcare providers to provide free service to the needy, and force the rest of us to subsidize their care.
But the price of that coverage is often ridiculously high. And too often, we pay for benefits that we never will need.
In the best of all worlds, we would optimize the risk-sharing between the individual consumer and the system. Benefit plans would be tailor-made to the greatest extent possible. Young, healthy guys should be able to buy bare-bones catastrophic coverage. Women of childbearing age could have more comprehensive coverage.
And on and on. The last thing you want is for politics to dictate benefits according to the agenda of special interest interest groups.
One size does not fit all, and it makes the vast majority of us overpay for services we will never use.
This is why I am a huge supporter of alternative “self-insurance” organizations and healing centers. Health insurance is not one of the basic needs of life, contrary to what many politicians will tell you.
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In the case of health insurance, a common catastrophic event is a surgical procedure. For example, if you broke your leg and and the procedure to repair the fracture cost $100,000, you would be responsible for the entire bill if you don't have any health insurance and most people cannot afford to write that check. After the procedure, you may need the aid of equipment to assist you (e.g. crutches), some physical therapy, or medications - these expenses can add up fast too.
Maternity care is a big one as well - the birth of a pre-mature baby can cost over $1,000,000 in expenses for his/her care and development. Maternity care is one of the essential health benefits covered under every individual health plan in marketplace.
I recommend consulting with an experienced health insurance broker who can help you find the best program for your specific needs. I hope the information is helpful - please feel free to contact me for help and if you have any questions. Thanks very much.
I think that everybody does need health insurance, but that everybody shouldn’t need health insurance. At least not the way we provide it these days.
In our current healthcare delivery system, the cost of services is extremely high. Too high, in many cases. There are probably a variety of reasons for this: greed; cost inefficiencies; a litigious legal environment; burdensome government compliance; etc.
This is not to say that we do not deliver superior services. People from the world over come here to get the best of care. But we pay an arm and a leg for it, and we shouldn’t have to.
This has made medical insurance the lesser of two evils. Better to have expensive coverage to minimize your out-of-pocket costs, than to go bankrupt or kill your credit record with huge outstanding debt. Or to have too many people exploit the willingness of healthcare providers to provide free service to the needy, and force the rest of us to subsidize their care.
But the price of that coverage is often ridiculously high. And too often, we pay for benefits that we never will need.
In the best of all worlds, we would optimize the risk-sharing between the individual consumer and the system. Benefit plans would be tailor-made to the greatest extent possible. Young, healthy guys should be able to buy bare-bones catastrophic coverage. Women of childbearing age could have more comprehensive coverage.
And on and on. The last thing you want is for politics to dictate benefits according to the agenda of special interest interest groups.
One size does not fit all, and it makes the vast majority of us overpay for services we will never use.
This is why I am a huge supporter of alternative “self-insurance” organizations and healing centers. Health insurance is not one of the basic needs of life, contrary to what many politicians will tell you.