For a time I had a high-deductible HSA. As I recall, the price was about $260 a month, and you had to put $1600 into a savings account at the outset plus another couple thousand a year after that. The management cost of the HSA account was outrageous. There are few controls on premium increases: the only one I know of in my state is that an insurer can’t raise an individual’s premium because the individual dares to use the policy: they have to raise everyone in the pool’s premiums. And believe me: they DO!

Rather than raising your premium, though, what they do is harass you after you’ve made a claim. I went to a dermatologist for a rash that came up on my face; he prescribed a steroid cream. I had never had anything like it in my life. Before long, I got an insurance investigator on the phone announcing that the company was investigating me for insurance fraud! They decided this was a pre-existing condition. This woman harassed me for months; I finally got her off my back by filing a formal complaint against the company with the state insurance commission.

Insuring yourself is difficult and expensive. Your best bet may be to join a trade organization that offers group insurance to its members. Being a blogger makes you a writer. Check out the Writer’s Guild, which has such a plan. Another possibility is to enroll in some classes at a college or university and get onto the student insurance.