I am a freelance physician employed by a startup company.  We’re in the process of deciding our benefit plan.  I haven’t had health insurance since graduating from Hopkins in June 2007.  At first, I didn’t have health insurance because I couldn’t afford it.  I started my practice and had to depend on patients finding out about me in my own neighborhood and then needing me…times were hard in the very beginning.  But it quickly ramped up. 

I could now purchase health insurance if I wanted.

However, I choose to go uninsured as a form of passive resistance to an industry that has enslaved me and my colleagues.  At this age and in my health, $350 a month, high-deductible insurance has very little value to me.  I have about a 1 in 20 chance of spending over $5,000 per year on healthcare.  Those are pretty good odds.  I think I’ll take my chances.  

Should I need healthcare, I’ll pay cash.  Should I need medication, I’ll take a $4 generic.  Should I get hit by a bus, I’ll settle my bills Hello Health style – with a lawyer who will broker a deal with the hospital for 10% greater than what they would have been reimbursed by an insurance company – it’s just one of the many perks of being a Hello Health member.

Until each and every state has an affordable health insurance plan that offers value for 20 and 30-somethings (like Tonik), I will not subsidize the inefficient, needless-procedure laden care of the aging population.

If healthcare was delivered more intelligently in America, I would buy into the social aspects of pooled risk.  However, I won’t subsidize the middlemen until policies are changed.