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Comment by Walkman | Hacker News Reader

> I had no insurance and had stopped all physical activity beyond basic exercise for years, being too scared to hurt myself

Now you can hurt yourself no problem, or you can hit by a bus if you want! What a stupid thought. Having no insurance is not an excuse for being active.

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Downvoted. It seems like a perfectly legitimate concern for someone that can't afford to pay for a fracture out of pocket.

Come on, you really behave differently and put yourself at risk if you have insurance? That's at least thinking backward but I think it's stupid. I don't do things when the risk of getting hurt is not acceptable for me no matter if I would have insurance or not. Also it's mostly for disasters so you don't go broke, but if you scratch your knee or something, who cares?

I'd be far less likely to engage in semi-extreme activities that I enjoy (mountain biking, snowboarding) if I didn't have the safety net of insurance to cover me should an accident happen. I love those activities, but if they have the potential to put me both forever in debt and bad health, I'm probably going to think twice about it. At a minimum I'm going to enjoy them a bit less and not take as many chances. It would be unfair to my family to expose them to that kind of financial risk just for my enjoyment. With insurance I'm confident even if I were to be killed enjoying one of those activities, my family wouldn't be left paying the bill for the rest of their lives. Exercise can involve a host of activities and anything more than geriatric routines expose you to potential injuries you could otherwise avoid.

> or you can hit by a bus if you want

Given that cars are obliged to have insurance, said insurance will pay for victims' healthcare costs. In Germany, there is a special state fund to pay for the rare case of an uninsured vehicle being involved in an accident.

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