[gremlinsinc]

What if instead... You still paid the money... But it was actually an investment fund like vanguard. If you get sick it pays, it also negotiates cheaper rates for prescription, procedures, copays. If you stay healthy you get most of it back plus interests minus broker fees as retirement when you enter Medicare.

[dragonwriter]

And if you get really sick, especially at a young age...you exhaust it and either go bankrupt or die from not getting needed care, or both, depending on exactly how providers treat people without ability to pay.