My wife just got promoted to a well-paid, full time position at her job and has the option of getting health insurance through her work. She is getting it and wants to know if I want to be included in her plan. I told her probably not, but I'm still kind of on the fence about it and was hoping to get some input from my fellow Nexians.

I really don't think it's worth it for her to pay the extra money for me to have it at this time. I live a very low-risk and healthy lifestyle:

-I'm currently in a healing phase of my life, working through a lot of past emotional trauma so I'm not employed and hardly ever leave the house.

-I'm in good shape, exercise and eat a very healthy diet.

-I'm still young (31).

The more I think about it, the more it seems like insurance in general is a huge scam. It's like legal gambling, with the insurance companies being just big, profitable casinos. Sometimes you hit "the big payoff" if you actually use the insurance, but for the most part, it seems like a huge waste of money.

It makes more sense to me to take responsibility for my own health by being safe, not making stupid decisions, using my intuition to avoid danger and making healthy lifestyle and diet choices.

At some point as I get older I will get health insurance as my chances of injury and illness go up, but right now, considering my sheltered and healthy lifestyle, it doesn't seem necessary and don't see why I need it.

Trip, fall, broke your []. No healthy diet can prevent that. Same goes for substance experimentation, human transferable diseases, etc.

Why are you considering this ? Is money a problem or ?

I would take it if I were in your position. As Shaolin stated, you never know what could occur in life. That's the fundamental purpose of insurance in general.

I understand this, but I practice mindfulness and walking meditation so I'm always very aware and in tune with my body so the chances of me severely injuring myself are very slim. This is part being responsible for my health and safety, and listening to my intuition as well as common sense to avoid danger. Especially since I rarely leave the house, my chances of injury are greatly diminished.

As for your other examples:

-I don't experiment with dangerous substances.

-I very rarely get sick. I'm hardly ever around other people, and even when I regularly interacted with people when I was working I never got sick. My immune system seems to be in excellent condition. Also, many of the foods and supplements I take are known to enhance immunity.



Money isn't a problem since my wife has a good job, but like I said, I don't want to make her pay extra for unnecessary insurance and I feel it would be a waste of money.

Depends on how much crack you smoke....

No, really...take it. You never know what can happen. Even a healthy lifestyle does not prevent every disease. Just think about how it would feel to be sick, in debt just because you were too proud to accept a blow to your manliness by letting your gf pay care for your health.

That it does!



I think you may be misunderstanding my reasons. It's not about my ego, macho attitude, or pride. I just don't think my specific situation and lifestyle place me at high-risk to justify my wife paying extra.

I admit, I'm 80% sure I'm not going to get it, but I'm just trying to get other perspectives from all you open-minded Nexians on the matter. I respect all your input.

Idk what you expect to hear, sounds like you have your mind made up. Of course it's a valuable safety net because you are your own most important asset, not some commodity. It's up for you to decide if the risk outweighs the reward.

With health insurance I think it all depends.


You have to ask yourself two questions:

1) Can I pay the monthly fee for health insurance?

2) Can I pay the medical bills if something bad happens to me and I don't have health insurance?

The answer to the first question is probably yes. The second question however probaly depends.

Some nice prices for medical bills:
* An MRI scan can be about 500 to 1500 dollar per scan, depending on the region.
* Lower Leg Fracture Surgery is about 12,000 dollar.
* Brain Surgery for removing a tumor for an adult always comes with hospitalization. Price? 38,500 dollar.

Check this site for some more medical prices: Healthcare Blue book

If you can pay all that can happen in question 2 with ease, then you don't need health insurance. If you cannot pay those bills and the price of question 1 is fair, then I see no reason to not go for health insurance.

In NL all people have health insurance by default. It gives an incredible peace of mind to know that I can go to the doctor any time I like and that all medical bills are limited to a small starting fee (300 euro's in my case). So if I ever have a bad car accident, I only have to pay 300 euro's and ALL medical bills will be paid for me, that way I can think about my health instead of the medical bills.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

Once you need it, none of them will take you on. Some countries think health care is a basic right. You may not live in a country where they think that, but I would still want to have it. If you don't, you'll need a contingency plan to deal with financial ruin.

This. If its available, I would take it. You can lead the healthiest lifestyle possible and still get some disease, have something go wrong with your body, or have an accident. When that happens and you dont have insurance youre in trouble because then no insurance company is going to cover you.