Quote Originally Posted by tulip View Post
It is an incentive to stay healthy--to keep my premiums low.
As you know (with your history of TBI), healthy behaviors are a choice, but being healthy isn't. And not all states allow individual rating. I'm paying the same premium as any 53-year-old female on the same plan as I am, whether they've been in perfect health their entire life, or whether they have serious chronic illnesses.

Quote Originally Posted by tulip View Post
I could never afford $1000+ on premiums that some of you pay. There are alternatives out there.
Not when you have a pre-existing condition and insurance. If you're willing to go without insurance for six months, then you're eligible for open enrollment, and for the high risk pools in states that have them. Otherwise, I'm stuck with the insurance I have.

Quote Originally Posted by tulip View Post
When I got sick in Europe and had to go to the ER, I didn't pay anything. That was refreshing.
No kidding. I was with my parents when my dad got sick in Austria. It wasn't nothing that he paid, but it was less than $200 including doctor visits and a prescription that would have been $300 all by itself in the US.