ever taken a statistics class? it's about probabilities.

it might be better just to put some money aside each year rather than pay insurance companies. but you would have to be disciplined. i need to look into this more and see if someone has crunched the numbers and done a comparison.

In fact you have answered the question already - it might be better just to put some money aside each year rather than pay insurance companies.

So the answer to my question - If I pay 20,000 RMB for insurance for 1 year - what do I get at the end of the year - If I did not get sick or need any type of services?

I get NOTHING - ZERO - NADA!

it's not that simple. it's about probabilities.

you might lose if you pay into a system you don't use, but you might also lose if you have a health problem that costs a fortune and you're not insured (for which the probability is low, but not 0%).

depends on many factors. are you a smoker? drinker? do hard drugs while backpacking?

Great answer again - I am 51 - after 8 years of primary school, I received a certificate of attendance because I never missed a single day of school. 4 years of high school - never missed a day of school but did not get a certificate. 20 years in the Marine Corps - never missed a single day of work although I went to work a few times when I was sick.

now I am 51 - average life span is 70 but ALL members of my extended family have died at age over 80 and into 90s.

Imagine if I had started paying for insurance at some point in time - What a waste of money - Like you said - it is better to save it - 20,000/year is a lot of dough.

One day I will get old and sick and I will say what most Lakota Indians say - This is a good day to die.

So if you buy fire insurance for your home, and it doesn't burn down, guess you lost out too.

if you buy fire insurance and your house doesn't burn down, burn it down when you get diagnosed with a clogged artery. collect the insurance on the house to pay for the medical bills.

I think that the cost of insurance has gone through the roof and that's why a lot of people don't buy it. It's the same with college tuition and college books. Why do you think people buy 'bootleg' DVD, Designer bags, etc. When the price of something is out of control people stop buying it or buiy something else that does the same thing. There's a movie with Bruce willis and Sameul E. Jackson called 'Unbreakable' . Basiscally some people are always sick and some are not. Why should the healthy always have to carry the sick. Mind you that most people 'choose' the lifestyle that makes them sick. Smoking, drinking, druging, not exercising, eating bad foods, etc. In the end, each individual needs to decide what's best for them.

Wow!!! Well said. We all get old and when we get old we get fatter, and eventually become sick, but that is a part of life. If life insurance can prevent one from getting old than it would be great investment.

I drove for 35 years in the US and never had an accident except once when a drunk driver hit me from behind - twice.

Insurance companies are not there to care of people - they are there to make a profit and like a casino, the odds are with them.

Another good movie with Matt Damon and Danny DeVito, Rainmaker - the insurance company will always deny a claim and continue to so until you get a lawyer.

@magnifico
....bravo you explained it perfectly...to a question of a 5year old child.

@CAMPO
insurance doesn't equal investment.
p.s.
you don.t work at the military....you serve in the military. ....just trying, using "authority".

let.s get an example....mine!!
first you have to understand the there are people different from you and accept that they think different or have different options. that may be hard for some but let.s imagine this is possible.
i assume you are retired and don.t have to work for an income.

so,i know it.s hard to believe but let.s assume people are still working and disease or injury, may cut their income and thus the inability to pay medical bills.

what about that?

my example for why insurance us a good thing.

i contracted typhoid fever from some chinese a**hole cook, being too lazy to wash his dirty little paws and incubation time made me carried it to europe where it broke out hospitalizing me in the quarantene unit for a week= 5000Euros....when the antibiotics didn.t work as planned my kidney and liver were about 2days away from shutting down.
next step...
double organ transplant....one at a time after waiting in the hospital for about 3month for the organ if matched, in total about 250k for each organ. at least 20days ICU x ca. 10k per day another 200k with other costs lab tests, medz etc. and we are somewhere between 500and 700k. for a tiny little bacteria from a jerk to lazy to wash his/her hands after taking a dump.

so, how in hell, do i save that much money for me and my wife and my daughter?
even a marine with 20years of service couldn.t save up that much money when you need it.
so if i start saving a thousand euro a month it only takes me 250month to get one of my family remotely covered from serious disease, not including long term medication.

a friend of mine...got hit by a car..brain surgery, certain damages,paralisys,, the full monty. withiut insurance.,he.d be dead or crippled. he is a father of three. couldn.t go back to work.

what about that? not enough for an investment?

how do i feel like i already know campo's answer, if he is allowed to.

correction...we pay 18k RMB for worldwide cover for three people. it is no fun to see that cash go away but the feeling of not worrying how to pay for medical bill...oh boy, that sleep at night is fantastic.

@liuming
that is actually and factually wrong. if we are not insured everyone healthy or not will pay for the sick.
if the insurance won.t pay the tax payer does and since taxes are not collected by health status, we all pay.

@HFCAMPO
...got a new source for facts, i see....Matt Damon and Al Pacino. Sure they must be right.

insurance paid for my buddy.s close to a million medical bill,without problems.

insurance paid for my daddy's hep. C infection at least about 300k bill, without a blink

it paid my uncles cancer treatment and hospice... a few hundred thousand, without a word.