Health Insurance: The Most Important Purchase.

By Malachi Dearden

Across a life time a person will be faced with many decisions in concerns to weighing the
marginal costs and benefits between important items as they try to balance out what they think
they want but without a doubt Health Insurance should be right at the top of the list. Now many
see Health Insurance as somewhat of a mediocre thing that they are required to have otherwise
they are going to have hefty fines placed on them. Likewise some think that nothing bad will
ever happen to them and that simple Health Insurance is just an extra cost placed on them. These
false ideals of what Health Insurance is not doing thing for them has caused 15.8% of the
population in the U.S. to be without this critical asset. ("Health Insurance." Springer Reference 1
(2011): n. pag. Health Policy Brief)
To put in perspective that would be roughly 51 million people without any sort of health
insurance. That level of people can be quite draining if ever they had an accident or some sort of
medical problem and they had to go to the doctor. The medical bill would be staggering for
someone of lower income not having health insurance to help weather the blow. Health insurance
is the one reason why many lower income people can afford to even see the doctor. Taking their
bill for a lower fixed rate is key to preventing any sort of quick pile up of medical bills that
would have sucked all their money away.
There are some marginal costs to having health insurance since nothing in this world is
free but do not compare to the benefits. One such cost is the fact you have to pay the fixed rate
regardless of being sick or require medical attention. That alone turns many people away though
there are some consequences to not having health insurance; for example the U.S. government

requires people to have health insurance, when it comes to tax time then someone will get a
penalty on their tax returns, $695 per adult or 2.5% of your annual income predicted in 2016. (.
"Why Do You Need Health Insurance?" US News. U.S.News & World Report)
Those stats alone are quite staggering to anyone without health insurance and that isnt
even factoring in any medical bills one might have to pay. The cost might be a bit high for some
of the benefits to be negated but in the end health insurance is your best bet when it comes to
protecting yourself from any sort of medical trouble.
Some other marginal costs that one might decide over is the fact it seems the health
insurance people are out to get some of their customers or that they will dismiss others due to the
criteria the health insurance people lay out when you come asking for insurance. They might
raise your daily rate if you have any sort of malady beforehand or some disability that would pull
their attention to. Much of the health landscape seems too politicized by all the recent
discussions on how medical treatment should work and that causes some people to be disgruntled
when trying to interact with the health insurance field. The system can be a bit screwy when it
sometimes comes to certain plans such as the high deductible plan which you still have to pay a
majority of the health bill but somehow they give us a discounted price though I am a little
unsure how that works in the grand scheme of the medical world. There is also the fact what is
available since work often provides the cheapest health insurance plans available to prevent
paying a marginal amount on their end thus people dislike the plans they are given and dont pay
for health insurance. I even became a little unhappy with how the current events of heavy
handed political action that is forced into health insurance, Nearly caused me not to get medical
insurance till I saw some of the benefits.

There are far more benefits when it comes dealing with health insurance then there are
costs. One of the main things is with health insurance you arent paying 100% out of pocket
unlike when youre not insured and last year a majority of Americans who filed for bankruptcy
stated that it was medical bills that did them in. You avoid that tax return penalty set down by the
government and you prevent any sort of major economic crisis in your family. People on medium
to lower end incomes can have their premiums offset by new tax credits and subsidies to help
with the costs themselves. Some general facts are that uninsured people are less likely to seek
care from their doctors on a routinely basis thus they tend to unaware of any major medical
problems normally found through preemptive care. Those who are uninsured are less likely than
those with insurance to receive services for major health conditions or trauma. People that dont
see their doctor tend to develop depilating disability later in their life due to chronic disease or
accident. The fact is that people need health insurance if they wish to live a long fulfilling life.
There is a grim side to those that do not insure themselves since they think the only place
they can get care is in the ER. First off the ER is terribly expensive and could cost a person
almost $10,000 dollars a day to stay in hospital. Quite a few deaths are caused by the fact people
dont have insurance and they dont see their doctors till the emergency has come leading to a
tragic death simply because they didnt see their doctor on a regular basis. The cost of the ER
treatment can be quite staggering if you dont have health insurance hurting their overall money
standing and otherwise bankrupting them in the direst of times.
Those marginal costs and benefits are often thought over in not the best mood since many
grumble about how health insurance works in an America and to this day eludes the common
knowledge of the average American. Many are confused or state the premiums are just too high
for them to pay; those major thoughts are causing the preemptive deaths of many Americans

across the states many of which could have been cared for and saved. My own relation to this
situation is the fact when I became 18 I was no longer on my parents health insurance plan so I
had to enroll in my own. The maze of rules, regulations, prices, comprehensive plans, amount,
credit score and Obama Care caused a great deal of trouble for me when I was starting to a select
a plan. The prices were also not something easy to overlook when you are a college young adult
just starting in the world. The thought of being uninsured had crossed my a few times, not having
to pay the straight up monthly premium would have been a nice commodity yet when I began to
explore the benefits and consequences of the said action. Horrified by the stats of what would
most likely become of me and the tax penalties quickly changed my mind into insuring myself
with health insurance. It was a difficult decision to make but in the end I find it is better to be
insured since you feel all the more safe under an umbrella that can protect you from some of the
medical bills if anything came your way.

Works Cited
Bovbjerg, Randall R., and Jack Hadley. "Health Insurance." Springer Reference 1 (2011): n.
pag. Health Policy Brief. The Urban Institute, Nov. 2007. Web. 4 Dec. 2015.
<http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/alfresco/publication-pdfs/411569-Why-HealthInsurance-Is-Important.PDF>.
Davenport, Karen. "Should Everyone Be Required to Have Health Insurance?" WSJ. THE WSJ
DEBATE, 23 Jan. 2012. Web. 04 Dec. 2015.
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204124204577152842650354880>.
Olivero, Magaly. "Why Do You Need Health Insurance?" US News. U.S.News & World Report, Aug.Sept. 2013. Web. 05 Dec. 2015. <http://health.usnews.com/health-news/healthinsurance/articles/2013/08/16/why-do-i-need-health-insurance>.