Day 53 of #healthcare #openenrollment.

Today is the deadline for people in the U.S. to select or renew their health insurance choice in order to have access to #health care beginning 1 Jan 2026.

During the past 43 days, millions of people have spent many hours evaluating the hundreds (or thousands!) of plans available where they live, understanding how this choice could impact which physicans can be seen, and factoring how much more money might have to be spent for this access in 2026.

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Day 39 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

I awoke from a #nightmare about #health plan access in the U.S. The setting was realistic yet weird:

While at an unidentified high school trying to decide which approach to choose for 2026 #healthcare access, the school’s entire competitive #cheerleading squad visited my hallway desk in all their glittery, make-up-y-ness. What did they want? Why was I at a high school? I wanted to leave. They followed me out to the parking lot, so I awoke myself.

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Day 38 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

This story from NPR considers the impact of shifting #health costs and service price management to the individual, noting “as deductibles became widespread over the last 20 years, medical prices in the U.S. skyrocketed… At the same time, patients have been left with thousands of dollars of medical bills they can't pay, despite having health insurance. About 100 million people in the U.S. have some form of health care debt” » https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/12/08/nx-s1-5629249/hsa-high-deductible-health-plan

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Day 29 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

Today I researched “catastrophic health insurance”, a term I learned recently from conversations in a closed group of tens of thousands of #women business owners. Many, similarly impacted by exorbitant premium increases, are considering other potential avenues for #health access plans in the U.S.

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It must be noted, again, in this thread that to be uninsured in the U.S. and to experience a catastrophic #health event is how many people end up bankrupt, houseless, and/or destitute.

Certainly I’m not advocating being uninsured in the U.S., but, the option to be uninsured is one model to consider during #health #insurance #openenrollment “season”.

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Day 24 of #healthinsurance #openenrollment.

I’ve received a response to my inquiry about cost as a self-pay or direct-pay patient at my medical provders’ facilities. The reply includes ranges of prices for typical services and encounters which I, as the patient, might expect to pay as an uninsured person.

Because costs for #medical services in the U.S. are ranked according to a complex, tiered system of type and duration, these initial results are approximate yet informative.

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