Hear me out on this, please.
Let’s say that I spend $5k on health insurance in a year, but don’t go to the doctor or have any medical issues in that year. Where does my money go? It disappears. I basically just gave away my money, and received nothing in return. However, if I took that $5k and simply put it into a personal savings account instead of giving it away to a health insurance provider - that money stays right there if and whenever I decide to use it. It even collects interest.
I realize that with a health insurance provider, you’re (supposedly) getting discounted rates on medical services - but if your money is just disappearing into thin air if you don’t happen to need those medical services in a given year, are you really saving money? It just seems like a really big scam to me - what am I missing?
Yep! Having medical costs be a “fend for yourself” system is super ableist. I had a double lung transplant in 2014 thanks to the affordable healthcare act, thanks Obama, and if my “personal savings” had been the only thing I had to pay for it I’d be dead. Lots of people, like myself, are born disabled, we deserve to exist, having a system where I still get healthcare even if it costs a couple million to put me in ICU for six months and do 12 hours of surgery is the only humane option. Some bills just can be covered by the very vast majority of us, and like you said single payer healthcare is the obvious answer, insurance sucks but it still covers a very important gap