I recently had to juggle 'do I pay out of pocket for this skin cancer surgery and save $600 on the $3000 total, or use insurance so that what I pay goes towards

I recently had to juggle 'do I pay out of pocket for this skin cancer surgery and save $600 on the $3000 total, or use insurance so that what I pay goes towards my deductible (would have fulfilled 30% of my deductible for the year). It was better to pay out of pocket. In the last 30 years we went from affordable ambulances and insurance that worked to people too scared to use ambulances and insurance that our doctors encourage us not to use. Glad we are letting the free market work it's magic. Thankfully the market worked in our small town, the ambulance company went broke and we joined together as a community and now have county services that are not only better but much much cheaper and don't see peoples' emergencies as a profit center for some located elsewhere mega-corp. Weird how inefficient small town hick local government can now make work (and work better) what mega corp for profit 'big brains' couldn't. Side note: USE SUNSCREEN PEOPLE! I wish I could go back and slap dumb 'too cool for sunscreen' Santa Cruz surfer kid me.