Right now, I choose to forgo health insurance. I opt instead to put about $2,000 a year in a flexible spending account. I'm healthy and get regular preventive care, and the FSA gives me a tax benefit.
I'll stick with this plan as long as I can. When it comes time, I will get insurance because it makes no sense for me to pay a penalty and get nothing for it.
Some well-off people think their pockets are being picked. But my main background is in emergency room care, so I know how it works: People without insurance have no other option but to go to the ER when they're sick, and that's the absolute most expensive way to go. And what happens? That cost is passed on in the form of higher premiums for those who are insured.
So the reforms will help make things cheaper for everybody. If nothing else, you've got to have some healthy people in the insurance pool too, or it won't work. I don't mind helping out in that way. It's always complicated, but I think legislators are going to do the best they can for as many people as possible.
NEXT: Douglas Wolk, 40, freelancer
