What do you do? Go without? Yeah, you could, but it's risky. No one is invincible. Despite how careful or healthy you may be today; accidents abruptly and inconveniently happen, cells in our bodies can do their own thing, viruses incessantly hunt for hosts, genetic histories are embedded into your DNA.

It all sounds very "Doctor Doom", but the main idea here is to be prepared, just in case. Without the benefit of a future-seeing device and having super powers, you have no guarantees. Even with a device and super powers, you probably have no guarantees.

Life without health insurance

If you land a job or have a job in Orange County that provides health insurance, consider yourself very lucky. Not having it and then having something go wrong can be costly and may even endanger your life. Some hospitals won't accept you into their medical care without it. If you need some kind of surgery, some hospitals won't let your do it in their hospital until you prove how you're going to pay for it.

That's just the pointy tip of the giant proverbial iceberg. Financial ruin caused by medical bills is literally an epidemic in this country. Over half of all bankruptcies are instigated by medical debts. Unfortunately, about a third of those cases include people that had insurance, but that's another topic for another time.

The main point is to have insurance to provide some kind of backup for your overall medical needs. The little problems are the ones that hit us the most and your insurance takes the bite out of those little visits, the preventative visits, the "I sprained my wrist and can't type" visits.

How to insure your future

You can get single coverage health insurance, which is a bit of a bite out of your monthly income, but you'll have it. Because you're in California, you do have a few more choices that many other states don't have. A lot of insurers here provide very good individual rates. Probably more due to the nature of our creative work life, especially in Orange County, you have a lot of choices for shopping around.

If you belong to a group, or guild, or association, check out all that they have to offer. Many of these circles have a deal with a health insurer so that you can get in on a group rate. Most of them offer pretty decent rates. If you've been thinking about joining one of these groups, this could be worth the membership fees all by itself.

Finally, Orange County itself provides alternatives, as does the state government. Do a little legwork and find the program that fits your needs the best. Everything you need is online, so it's so easy to do. Getting the insurance takes a little more time, but you will be glad you made the plunge.

Don't allow yourself to live without it. Too much is at risk and you are worth the bubble wrap.