Could a National Health Insurance Boycott Actually Work?

With all of the talk about health care lately, I started to think our core group of buddies was getting a little old, until the younger people started speaking out about it too.

I don't know about you, but mine nearly doubled last year. It hadn't changed for a few years leading up to that, but last year came down like a hammer. As we roll closer to another open enrollment season, everyone seems to be at least a little worried at reports health insurance is going to spike again in 2025.

That's just the rumor at this point until we all collectively see what our expected premiums will be come November/December, but I haven't met anyone under the age of 65 who isn't at least a little worried about what's to come.

Rates Generally Have To Rise, Always

Health care in general has been in a state of rising costs for a very long time. Not only because of valuable technologies used in the industry, but labor too. Nurses, aides, doctors, support staff, etc... they all earn their keep, and just as any other worker in the world, a steadily rising pay grade is universal and standard. I doesn't always grow at the pace we'd prefer, but earning more today than yesterday isn't just the goal, it's necessary.

Can't judge a person for wanting more pay, you and I both experience the same cost of living that keeps going up and up. It's usually a slow process that takes years to notice differences in pricing, but things take a big jump from time to time.

During the previous administration, America's economic woes spiraled out of control for just about every product and service. The news said things were even worse throughout the world, but the media could spin anything they want for any reason they want. Food, fuel, housing, transportation, and health care skyrocketed.

While the extra-value meals may not have come down, the price of groceries has. Not to the pre-2022 levels, but eggs aren't coming with offers to finance anymore. Housing is always up and down, has been throughout history. Prices come down when people stop buying. Same with fuel and transportation... but health care keeps going up.

The big health companies say that their premiums go up to account for what they expect to pay out over the next year. Whether for doctor visits, hospital stays, or prescriptions, they aim to only collect enough money to cover their costs... but that's the spin, right? They surely don't mention their billions in record profits to us, just their shareholders.

As we get closer and closer to open enrollment with all of these "skyrocketing cost" rumors, it has become one of the hottest topics of conversation among my group of friends.

We mostly work for different companies, so at lunch one day, we were sort of comparing notes on costs and such. Believe me, people seek new jobs based on this metric alone. Here's the average...

The Math Behind Modern Health Insurance

We pay $400 per month for single-employee health insurance. That's not a family plan. The deductible is $7,000, which means while your insurance may pay on visits and such, in the event of a big something or other, you've got to pay that $7,000 before they'll step in and pick up 80% of the tab.

The simple math: That's $4800 per year for the coverage, and at least $11,800 for the year if something serious happens to you... Heart attack, stroke, fell off the roof, crazy ex-lover breaks into your house and beats you half to death with a Jim Duggan 2x4...

Let's call it twelve grand per year before your insurance does what it's supposed to do...

That. Is. In. Sane.

This is what led to the wildest conversation we've had at the lunch table in a long time.

What if we all just canceled our health insurance? Literally, everyone in America...

Talk about a hard restart of an industry.

Of course, you'd still go to your doctor, but instead of billing you and insurance the regular, maybe they would simply charge you the lower prices they've contracted with your insurance anyway... and that's how the whole system works.

The Real Reason Medical Costs Stay High

The reason health care is so expensive is health insurance. They only pay X, so your doctor has to bill Y just to get the sum of Z. You'll see this on every explanation of benefits you receive after a medical visit.

My doctor charges my insurance $400 for a visit that lasts barely 15 minutes. My insurance is only willing to pay a percentage of that, a contracted and agreed $112. Add in my $30 co-pay. The true cost of my doctor visit is roughly 35% of what is billed.

Now, I don't think anyone would be happy paying $142 to see their doctor, but if that were the only cost throughout the year, the savings on unrealistic premiums might not be that bad.

Of course, you'd have to have the self-discipline to bank the $200 to $1000 a month you'd be saving by not paying for health insurance, so when you do have a medical bill, you'll have the money to pay it.

But What If Something Happens?

That's the million-dollar question. The fear of something catastrophic happening is what keeps the health insurance industry making record profits.

As one friend mentioned when this exact question was asked at the table, he said "I'm already $12,000 in the hole if something happens anyway, if it's more than that, guess I'll take a payment plan until I pay it off."

We all collectively sat there stunned, as if we'd heard a rather chaotic version of logic for the first time in years.

The Big Reset

I can't tell you how many failed attempts at boycotting America has had in my lifetime. Fuel and specific oil and gas companies were the target in the years after 9/11. Gas still went to $4/gallon.

People have tried to organize mass boycotts of Walmart for decades now, but when the alternatives cost 20% more, you can't get people on board.

Would a Boycott Actually Work?

Probably... The moment these companies had no revenue coming in, Wall Street would dump them in mere minutes... but there's also a huge risk of doing the opposite.

If half of everyone suddenly dropped insurance, the other half who stayed on would have to make up the difference. Insurance rates would likely double again to protect the profit margins... If you were curious, this is one of the reasons rates keep going up. The more expensive it gets, the more people opt out, and the rest of us are literally picking up the tab.

People would also have to, and I can't stress it enough, HAVE TO pay their medical bills. Just as the insurance industry would collapse, the medical industry would too. Rural Oklahoma has lost enough access to medical care, refusing to pay for your services would only create a larger problem.

Of course, this whole idea is based on getting everyone in America to agree, which they won't. In fact, it'll get spun into some sort of political ideology on whichever side of the fence you tend to lean. Republicans will call the idea Lefty-Lunacy... Liberals will call it a fascist attack on health care access... That's because just about everyone in elected offices that matter is highly invested in and funded by the health industry top-to-bottom.

It's a wild idea that is gaining traction. The question is, when do we - as Americans - strike the heart of a corrupt industry?