re: Going without health insurance

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My advice would to at minimum get some form of catastrophic insurance for these situations

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The $343 a month was catastrophic.

Look up Christian Healthcare ministries.

It's only like $90/month or some such. Maybe $150, it's been 3 years since we were on it. Fairly cheap disaster insurance that keeps you from paying a fine.

They charge a $500 deductible per incident. BUT BUT BUT BUT if you negotiate the bill down, they give you credit for that amount toward the deductible. So if the bill is reduced by $500 or more, you have no deductible.

They paid for my wife's entire pregnancy with no deductible because we negotiated with the hospital as "self pay" patients and had the bill reduced. This even included all of the OBGYN visits because it's considered one medical incident start to finish.

And you are actually a self pay patient, you get the bills from the hospital, send them to CHS, who then pay you, so you can pay the hospital/doctor....etc. And there isn't a hospital in America that doesn't give a massive discount to self pay patients.

There are some good Christian health sharing plans, but I think you have to go to church on the reg. They are way better than what you have now and similarly priced.

The thing is, it's a gamble. The other thing is, it's not like they are going to just let you die. Also medical debt can be paid off very slowly.

So lets say you don't pay and then get a $250,000 bill it's not like they are going to pull the plug on you if you miss a payment. You can work out a payment plan and keep it from killing your credit. I've seen it done.
You really have to ask yourself, are you a gambler?
Odds are in your life at least one major hospital visit will occur before age 60.

If I did not have health insurance, I would be out about 500,000 bucks this year. So yeah… I think I'll stick with it.

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wouldn't the car insurance of the at fault driver cover your medical expenses?

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I can't remember the discussion on that because it was a one car accident and I don't recall any details of the wreck. I either passed out or was run off the road, but the tire marks indicate that I swerved to avoid an oncoming vehicle and lost control and went off in a ravine and hit a tree, but this can't be proven because I have no recollection of it due to major concussion and if I was run off the road, the other driver left the scene so there were no witnesses... It was all worked out during the few hours following my accident. A lot of that time is foggy, but when I came to the following day, my boss and family were like this will all be fine, WC will cover it.