Uninsured, and Lovin’ It

Back in December I decided to drop my health insurance coverage.

I was hit with a 19% rate increase thanks to ObamaCare. All those “enhanced” benefits like free preventive care, unlimited lifetime benefits, and paying for 26-year old slackers came with a cost. In my case it was more money than I could afford now that I am retired. So, bye-bye, Blue Cross.

Back in December I decided to drop my health insurance coverage.

I was hit with a 19% rate increase thanks to ObamaCare. All those “enhanced” benefits like free preventive care, unlimited lifetime benefits, and paying for 26-year old slackers came with a cost. In my case it was more money than I could afford now that I am retired. So, bye-bye, Blue Cross.

Plus I had about $12,000 saved up in my HSA, so I figured that I could pay for most services out of my account. And if anything untoward happened, Obama had required every state to start a risk pool that charged no more than a standard premium, so I could enroll in the high-risk pool.

The only problem with the risk pool was that you have to be uninsured for six months to be eligible, so I figured the sooner I dropped my coverage the better. Now the six months have passed and I am good-to-go. And I have saved about $3,000 by not paying insurance premiums.

To summarize:

• I pay for small stuff out of my HSA. This includes twice-annual doctor’s visits at $60 a pop and three prescriptions that cost about $30/month.
• If something bad happens I can sign up for the risk pool and pay standard rates.
• I have already saved $3,000 in premiums.

Of course I was curious about how the risk pools are going, so I did a literature search. I could find absolutely no enrollment information since February. Back then CMS was mocked because only 12,000 had signed up when CMS had estimated 375,000 would be enrolled by then, according to the Washington Post:

The Obama Administration does not like to be mocked, so apparently it has stopped releasing enrollment numbers. But we can guess that not many more have enrolled or they would have trumpeted it. Plus, they are so desperate to enroll people that on May 31 they announced they would be slashing premiums, in some cases by 40%, and easing criteria for eligibility. Now you don’t ever have to be denied coverage in the private market. All you have to do is “simply provide a letter from a doctor, physician assistant, or nurse practitioner dated within the past 12 months stating that they have or, at any time in the past, had a medical condition, disability or illness,” according to Employee Benefit Advisor.

This is great! Not only do I save a ton of money by not paying premiums, but when I get sick, they have already cut my “standard premium” by 40%—no questions asked.

Now the only remaining question is—why haven’t you done the same?