Author here. I'm definitely not advocating going without health insurance. Just running simple numbers to get some perspective.

I'd like to see health insurance act like insurance again though. Right now it covers absolutely everything, meaning it's more like pre-payment for routine care + insurance.

Insurance isn't for routine, predictable, or low-cost expenses. But we've mandated that our health insurance cover all of those things.

The comparison to car insurance is overused, but it's a good one. Catastrophic coverage + dedicated savings with lower premiums looks more attractive to a lot more people.