Key takeaways
- People under about age 22 often spontaneously engage in highly dangerous activities without thinking about possible bad outcomes. They make decisions as if they’re immortal.
- That usually changes when you reach your late 20s and get into your 30s. You start to recognize that some of those things you did could have ended very badly. You don’t do things like that anymore and think through the things you do decide to do.
- People in their late 20s and into their 30s may not suddenly go on crazy skydiving trips or go rock climbing without ropes or any other safety precautions. But, according to NerdWallet, a full 20% of them do not have medical insurance.
- Without insurance, you run the very real risk of incurring huge medical debt that you simply cannot pay off. It will ruin your credit or, worse, land you into bankruptcy. Medical debt is the number one reason people file for bankruptcy.
- If you’re already in medical debt, negotiate a payment plan with the provider or hire a professional to negotiate for you, if you have truly massive bills.
- Most importantly, do whatever it takes to get yourself covered by medical insurance. You cannot safely go without it.
Remember back when you were about 18? One of your friends might have randomly suggested, “Let’s go skydiving.” And you of course answered, “Great, let’s do it!” Or maybe you were the one saying, “Let’s go rock climbing. You know—free climbing at 100 feet up or higher,” and your friends all agreed, so that’s what you did. You felt a little like you were immortal—as if nothing was ever going to happen to you.
That usually changes when you get to your late 20s and into your 30s. At that point, you think, “I ain’t doing that again. Kinda dumb.” Even with this new wisdom regarding spontaneously engaging in dangerous outdoor activities, there are some interesting stats showing it doesn’t carry over to all areas of life. At first, it threw me a little; but, after I thought about it, not really.
NerdWallet put these stats out saying that about 20% of young people (27 is the median age of the group studied) don’t have medical insurance. You’d think with the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, everybody has access to insurance. So why would a fifth of young people choose to go without medical insurance? Many of the respondents claim it’s not a big deal to be without it. They have the attitude, “Nothing’s going to happen to me.” But, of course, we know things do happen.
The NerdWallet study also found that about 11.3% of people between the ages of 27 and 40 are subject to collections because of medical debt they can’t pay. It takes a long time to pay these off because they’re usually very high. Even more concerning, the number one reason people go into bankruptcy is large medical bills.
How can you get out of this situation if you’re already deep in medical debt? First, pursue a payment plan. You can actually contact the medical provider and say something like, “I didn’t have coverage at the time of treatment,” or “I didn’t realize how much money I would need to cover the costs.” Then offer to pay them a certain amount, that you know you can afford, each month until it’s paid off. Payments can often be as little as $10 to $20 each. Many providers will allow you to do this. If you can make an arrangement like this, you won’t feel burdened by the huge chunk of debt sitting out there that you have to pay off all at once.
If your medical bill is really huge, you may consider hiring a professional. They help you negotiate the bill and a payment plan. Many times, they can even get the provider to agree to significantly reduce the bill. If you don’t want to hire a specialist, you can do it yourself. Put a plan together, borrow money, do whatever you can to get it paid off.
Don’t forget the most important point of this entire discussion: get yourself covered with medical insurance. Even if you only get minimal coverage, or coverage with a huge deductible and low premiums, it’s better than having none at all. Medical bills will happen and it’s much better to be prepared. You’re not immortal. You’re not 18 anymore, so don’t run your life with that mindset. You never know when you might need to see a doctor or go to the hospital. Until next time, enjoy.
Gary