Is Health Insurance Worth It If You're Healthy?

So, is health insurance worth it if you're healthy? We get asked that question a lot, Jason, I'm in my late 20s, I'm healthy, I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't do anything crazy, why in the world would I spend money on health insurance? And the truth of the matter is, it really depends on what your risk looks like. All health insurance is, is like the medical lottery.

Imagine if you would, a bunch of people in a risk pool together, all carrying around with them risk. Risk is just the statistics that say that sooner or later, somebody's going to need the coverage. So, we don't know who is going to get hit by a bus today, we just know statistically that somebody will. So, rather than any one person bearing the weight of that responsibility, what does it look like if we throw money into this risk pool, and then whoever winds up having the need gets to cash out and use that money to pay their medical claims.

So, really the question is, is it worth it if you're healthy? You have to look and say, what is the risk that I'm carrying around? If you're in your late 20s, and you don't smoke and drink, odds are you're probably not going to get stage 4 cancer between now and next year. There's a small risk there, and you may choose to ensure that risk, or you may not.

But you may be very, very likely to wind up blowing an ACL because you play basketball every Friday afternoon at the YMCA. Well, how do you ensure that one area of risk? There's all sorts of ways for you to offset that through health insurance. So, the question that you need to answer is, what risk am I willing to pay for myself, and then what are the risks that I'd be willing to hop into a risk pool with other people in, and throw a little bit of money in to play the medical lottery?