<prompt> Human: Hi reddit. Whats the actual difference between paying into a health insurance company every month, versus paying into a hard-to-reach savings account of my own? This Quora thread was kinda useful in helping me understand, but, I still dont really get the appeal. My privileged circumstances: - I already have a pretty penny worth of savings bequeathed unto me by my parents late grandparents - Im in a position to continue saving. I live very minimally and have no long-term materialistic goals - Couldnt I just start setting aside several thousand tens of thousands of dollars eventually into a CD account or similar?I feel like theres something Im missing here. ...Also, I cant figure out the Google search terms for what Im asking, but I know that there are loads of people whove already asked this question and answered it thoroughly. I just cant find them.Thaaanks :Assistant: I mean, how much do you have saved?What happens if something catastrophic happens and theres nobody to sue or collect from, and you have a 500,000 medical bill? Or even something like a 60,000 medical bill? A visit to the ER alone could easily cost you the low thousands, turn that into a one to two day stay, youre over 10k. Do you have any actual idea how absurdly expensive medical issues can get quickly here?Why would you forego putting that money to work and paying into it slightly less to cover an insurance premium when one bad day could wipe out your entire savings? Human: what i guess im interested in is the comparison between those seemingly huge upfront costs and the idea of paying for them in advance by paying a health insurance company. Could you help me understand:- If you total up everything youll pay to your health insurance company over the course of ur lifetime, how does that compare with the costs of a given catastrophe?- Say Im hit with some 500k catastrophe, and i only have 100k saved up for situations like this. Couldnt i just take out a loan to pay off the rest? And how would paying off the interest on that loan compare to what I wouldve paid through a lifetime of health insurance payments?  <response>: How do you get a loan if youre potentially disabled or less able to work? Very real possibility. 