“If you are paying cash you can bargain with health care providers and even pharmacies.”
I’ll believe this when prices are online like they are with any other product or service.
To be frank, my wife and I don’t do prescription drugs. She takes some over the counter stuff for allergies. She does feed me eight pills a day though. One is fish oil, another is turkey tail, another is EHT. I don’t know what the others are. But it’s all natural stuff and its function is to suplement our food supply so we don’t get cancer, high blood pressure, etc.
We grow our own chickens and eggs as well, and will be adding a few head of beef probably next spring. Every year we are a little more off the grid - and apparently more healthy than most americans who are our age (almost 63). But it could be genetic. My father is in his late 80’s and, though not as strong as me, sees the doctor about as often.