As soon as I had read the article “12 money mistakes that could cost you $1,000,000“, I wrote a letter to the editor of consumer reports, which I promptly saved to my desktop, and forgot. You see the desktop on my computer goes from a dozen folders to a hundred files in a matter of days, and I don’t always have the time each day to organize the files properly and act on those waiting in the queue. So when I saw the posting at The Digerati Life it reminded me that I needed to take action. Which means posting to my blog, and trying to find the right link to send it to consumer reports. I also found a number of other reactions to the article on the web, such as The Sun’s Financial Diary and Free Money Finance, thanks to the Silicon Valley Blogger. You may have guessed my area of interest in responding: health insurance!
So here’s the letter:
Dear Consumer Reports Magazine Editor,
I always enjoy reading Consumer Reports financial articles, and the February 2008 “12 Money Mistakes That Can Cost You $1,000,000″ was great. However, I think that the cost of #7, Maintaining an unhealthy lifestyle, was far too low. Health insurance rates dwarf those of life insurance. For example, in North Carolina the difference between a preferred plus individual health plan and a guaranteed issue plan for someone with a medical condition can be $800 or more a month. The additional amount paid by the 40 year old male over 25 years (until Medicare) is more than $240,000 due to additional increases due to age. This applies to everyone, since those with group health insurance at work may no longer have health insurance as employers move away from providing this benefit, and also for people that cannot continue to work due to health conditions brought on by an unhealthy lifestyle. Some folks with unhealthy lifestyles can’t even get health insurance, so if they have a medical problem, it could cost a lot more than $240,000.
Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Additional costs can accrue in many other ways from an unhealthy lifestyle. Time lost from work, from family, and from community due to side effects of unhealthy habits. And imagine how much a jury would award in punitive damages if there was anyone to sue - in the millions. Oh wait, there are lawsuits like this, and the awards are huge (tobacco), and publicity is negative (fast food). And the money goes *to* the person with the unhealthy lifestyle. So maybe it’s not a costly mistake, but an investment in future returns. Unless you die first, of course.
Yours truly,
Jonathan Pletzke
Author, “Get a Good Deal on Your Health Insurance Without Getting Ripped-Off”
www.BestHealthInsuranceBook.com
Jonathan Pletzke is a consumer expert on health insurance and author of the health insurance book Get a Good Deal on Your Health Insurance Without Getting Ripped-Off, available online and at bookstores nationally. Additional details can be found at the consumers health insurance book and resources website www.BestHealthInsuranceBook.com. Copyright 2007-2008 Aji Publishing.
Tags: Consumer Reports · health · Health Insurance · insurance · Personal Finance5 Comments
5 responses so far ↓
Statistics have shown that the #1 reason for personal bankruptcy stems from health costs. Thanks for your insights — great letter you sent to CR.
Thanks for the comment. You’re right about the statistics. There is some disagreement about why and the percentage. One view is that folks who are on their way to bankruptcy already are pushed over the edge by a medical problem.
Here is an excerpt from my health insurance book on this topic:
“Bankruptcy is frequently related to medical bills and poor financial management. Estimates are that anywhere from 20% to 50% of personal bankruptcies are related to medical bills. Of those bankruptcies, roughly 20% didn’t have health insurance, and 80% were underinsured.”
I used to sell health insurance, and I would hear people complain all the time about how expensive it is. If they already had it, it was virtually impossible to try to help them reduce their expenses because they simply didn’t trust me (I was an insurance agent, after all). Those who didn’t have it would never get it because they wanted platinum level benefits or none at all. It was a difficult job because occasionally someone would want it, and you would eventually find out that those people had some kind of medical condition which made them ineligible.
[…] Consumer Reports Massively Underreports Cost of Maintaining an Unhealthy Lifestyle @ Consumer’s Health Insurance Blog I always enjoy reading Consumer Reports financial articles, and the February 2008 “12 Money Mistakes That Can Cost You $1,000,000″ was great. However, I think that the cost of #7, Maintaining an unhealthy lifestyle, was far too low. […]
[…] The problem with the article? Jonathan wisely points out the cost of health insurance for healthy vs. unhealthy people in the letter he wrote the editor of Consumer Reports. […]