It is Nostradamus week on the History Channel this week. You know, that ancient “seer” who “predicted” world disasters, anti-christs, and the end of the world.
End of the world talk has been a hyped up topic these last couple of months. With a pastor declaring to his large following that he had calculated the end of the world. He convinced his followers to quit their jobs, hunkered down and waited for the world to end.
I think you know how that ended. The world did not end. And those that quit their jobs? Were, well, jobless.
This is not the first time the end of the world has been proclaimed. Anyone who can remember Y2K, when the year turned 2000 everyone thought the world would end and the computers would crash the minute it turned midnight. Someone in Idaho believed it was the end of the world so he applied for credit cards and maxed them out, putting him hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. And you know how that turned out.
While you and I think it is a little silly to think the world is going to end on a specific date, it has not stopped people from predicting. (Heck, within the next year, these will be two more predictions of the end of the world. That pastor who predicted it would end in May said he got his prediction wrong and it will really happen in October. And the Mayan calendar ends in December 2012 leading many people to believe the world will end then.)
So with the world supposedly ending, people who believe will quit their jobs, max out their credit cards or savings, and stock up on food storage/cash. So you can bet ‘end of days’ believers will not be spending their time searching out ways to find cheapest health insurance.
Do you really need health insurance if the world is going to end? Coming from a non-believer, yes. We cannot predict the end of the world, so forgoing health insurance is a very bad idea.
So why do you really need health insurance? For a few reasons, and some are more important to some people more than others.
One is money. You should never max out your credit cards (whether you believe the end is coming or not), for the chance the world does not end. The same should be for insurance. Buying insurance is just that, insurance to help pay for your health needs. Health care costs are soaring (maybe it really is the end of the world). If you need health care and do not have insurance, it can be financially debilitating. However, insurance can safeguard you to help ease the pain of health care costs.
Another reason for health insurance is peace of mind. While you think the world might end, this way you know that you are covered either way. No longer do you have to worry that if you get injured you might not be able to pay for it.
Do you really need health insurance? Whether you think the world will end or not, you need insurance.