There are three main points that lead many people to feel like health insurance is a scam.

First up, the big one, the cost of the monthly premiums. Health insurance has gotten so expensive. Families can spend nearly as much on their health insurance as they do on their mortgage these days. What’s even more frustrating is that the already high cost seems to go up each year, even if you’re generally healthy and take care of yourself. We all know when we get in a car wreck that we should expect our car insurance premiums to go up. But thinking about that example, why do our health insurance premiums keep rising so fast even when we haven’t needed any major healthcare? It just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Next, let’s talk about the actual benefits you get from paying those high premiums for health insurance. Sure, it’s required to pay for a certain set of preventative care visits and procedures, but everyone knows by now that preventative care just isn’t that costly. So, what about unexpected medical expenses – the real reason why anyone buys insurance. Well, this year in 2022, the out-of-pocket maximum for an individual can be as high as $8,700 or $17,400 for a family. That’s on top of the premiums that you’ve already paid just to have the health insurance in the first place. In other words, if your family really had the worst-case scenario happen, you could be looking at nearly $40,000 between the premiums for the year and your out-of-pocket maximum before the insurance fully takes over! The reality is American families simply don’t have that much money just sitting around in the bank. When you hear things like that, it’s no surprise that medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in this country, even among people who actually have health insurance.

Lastly, let’s talk about network restrictions. Everyone knows that if you go outside of your health insurance network at best, you’ll pay significantly more, and at worst, your insurance won’t pay anything at all. And it can be a trap. If your primary care doctor calls in a specialist for consultation, you’re stuck with the bills if they are out of network. But why do we need to stay within a network in the first place? Shouldn’t patients have full authority to make the best healthcare decisions for themselves? Going back to the car insurance example, did you know that it’s illegal for them to steer, pressure, or require you to use a certain repair shop? So why, when it comes to even more important medical care, are our choices so limited? It’s easy to see why people feel frustrated and trapped by these restrictions.

Just like many other people out there, I was also feeling these same frustrations about the health insurance landscape, my limited choices, and how much I was paying each month. It felt like I was trapped with only one option – pay a ton of money for something that really didn’t feel like it benefited me or go without anything and constantly worry about the ‘what ifs’ of something bad happening.

Fortunately, I found a medical cost sharing community, and for me, it is a much better solution.