You know, they ask if you have health insurance but they never ever ask, is it by choice? I had COBRA and it cost about $9000 per year for my wife and myself. When it expired I went looking for health insurance and since my wife has a chronic condition they all refused to even consider her for coverage.
Now I have arrangements with Doctors to pay cash for services rendered and I get her drugs from Canada. My average annual cost is about $3000.
Basically health insurance is gambling. You are betting you are going to need treatment and the insurance company is betting you aren't. Who do you think the odds favor? The possibility of you coming out ahead is orders of magnitudes greater in a las Vegas casino than it is with health insurance.
Ain't it the truth. I've saved, by my estimate, about $50k over the past 10 years by not buying health insurance.
It's a gamble but one major illness can run up a huge bill. My wife has been treated for cancer twice. I calculated that the cost of her treatment and followup care has equaled what we've paid for health insurance the past 25 years. Her yearly meds and followup care about equal the premiums.