I’m with you. I knew a very well off guy who had $10,000 deductible health insurance and one day he hurt his elbow (I believe) playing tennis. He went to a specialist to have him look at it and the receptionist said he needed a referrel from his MD. The woman simply did not understand that he was trying to buy her employer’s services as one would buy the services of a mechanic. It took several iterations to explain to her that he wanted to write a check for the services he wanted to get.
They have this “insurance rules” mentality that permeates everything.
And to REALLY understand the “subsidy” concept, Dental “insurance” is the easiest example to use. I call it the “cost averaging” plan. When I add up my out of pocket with the monthly insurance payment, they come to about what it would have cost out of pocket to just pay for the service when I got it.
Agreed. I have only once in my adult life chosen to carry dental insurance. When I saw what it did and did not cover, I figured it wasn’t really worth the cost. true “Insurance” is about the mitigation of risk, in the sense of dental insurance, for example, you may have the risk of paying for a crown, etc. However, if the costs of the service you anticipate you might need is close to the cost of the insurance premium you are sure to pay (and you usually have a co-pay, or deductible anyway), you may only save a small fraction of the cost, and that’s only IF you actually need the service. I used to carry a no deductible plan on my vehicular insurance. It only cost me about 200 or so more per year, but I decided that unless I got into an accident on average every four years or more, then, a $1000 deductible actually saves money. If I were accident prone, then I would probably carry the no deductible. That would probably make me even less of a careful driver, but this way I know that in an accident, I’m going to have to pay, so I ensure that I drive with precision. I do, in fact know of many people (I saw them often years ago while in college) of the mentality that they can drive however they please because “It’ll get paid for anyway, I’m covered, and will get a new car.” Sadly, those very people don’t have to pay the gender premium, either.