No. of Recommendations: 7
5M of those 28M have incomes greater than 400% of the poverty level. For a single person 400% is about $60k per year ($30/hour). For a family of 4, 400% is about $130k per year. Is this sufficiently wealthy to self-insure?
No, I wouldn’t think so. But lots of people have a few million dollars. For them, paying out of pocket would make sense, rather than buying insurance in the traditional sense (coverage against catastrophes).
Of course, in the USA, you might also need a lawyer, or at least someone who could negotiate with hospitals who seem to try to take advantage of individuals who are often charged far more than an insurer would be charged.
My point is that if 8% of USA residents are not covered, and 2% are not legally in the country, and 1-2% are independently wealthy, the problem of non-insurance, should be pretty easy to solve. Credit where credit is due, Obamacare has taken care of most of the problem and the remaining bit is small.
