Don't cancel your health insurance yet

For three years I didn't have health insurance. I had decided that since my already-extremely-high premiums were increasing substantially on an annual basis and because I was such a healthy person, paying for health insurance seemed like a waste of my money, money that could be spent elsewhere. Toward the end of the three years I decided that maybe I should get some health insurance because I wasn't getting any younger and I hadn't had a checkup in three years, even though I didn't have any ailments or known health issues at the time I signed up.

I decided to go with Kaiser Permanente because that's what I had before and I was very satisfied with their medical care and their well-organized patient record keeping practices. After my previous experience with a private insurance company and OHSU's unorganized (understatement) record keeping and patient scheduling, Kaiser was a dream. At the same time I applied for Kaiser Insurance I also applied for AARP's indemnity health insurance policy because it was reasonable and it would help reimburse me for any Kaiser co-pays and other expenses. Both policies were approved and activated at the same time.

Buying the two policies turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made. Opting not to include prescription benefit coverage turned out to be one of the worst, other than the decision to go without health insurance for three years. Yes, my premiums are still expensive and continue to increase annually, but the cost is worth every penny that I pay.

Soon after my insurance policies were activated I made an appointment for a general checkup which included blood tests, urine test, pap smear and a mammogram.