Today's entry explores how unexpected health costs reveal the true price of daily choices.
Now that I'm "semi-retired" (read: willfully unemployed), I've started navigating private health insurance in Texas. My employer coverage extends through February, but March brings a new challenge: unsubsidized healthcare costs. The marketplace offers options, but our situation has a complication—my daughter's specialist doesn't accept most marketplace insurance plans.
Here are the costs:
Monthly premiums: $2,000+
Annual out-of-pocket maximum: ~$15,000
Estimated total yearly costs: $30,000 to $50,000
Looking at these future costs made me reflect on our past medical expenses. Our family has faced several acute health challenges:
My son arrived three months early, generating hospital bills over $1 million
My daughter was also born prematurely
Another daughter needs ongoing treatment for a congenital vascular anomaly
These past events were outside our control. But that million-dollar hospital bill reveals something important: acute health events carry massive costs. While we couldn't prevent our specific situations, many people face similar-sized bills from health issues that build slowly through daily choices. A lifetime of poor habits can lead to a single, expensive crisis—like a heart attack, stroke, or chronic illness.
We write our best insurance policy through daily choices. Building a foundation of health today shapes our family's future tomorrow.