This reminds me of Jim Merkel's "Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth", where one would adopt a "wiseacre" approach, reducing their living to a more sustainable/modest ecological footprint. It was quite sobering to read what some of the low footprint wiseacre scenarios would look like on this department.
In that D.4 table, a sample monthly budget for Medical insurance and services would be $4.4 for One Acre total EF (0.1 for Goods and services), $10 for Three Acres total (0.3 acres for Goods ans services), and $30 for a Six Acre Total EF scenario (0.8 for Goods and services) [the latter scenario still being higher than biocapacity per person if everyone were living by these standards.Jim Merkel in Radical Simplicity wrote:Table D.4 (Goods and Services) contains some of the tough trade-offs faced by wiseacres. With sample allocations of 0.1, 0.3 and 0.8 acres, would you think to invest more in education and possibly prevent an illness, or save the money in case you faced a serious illness? As you can see in this table, the allocations are quite small by North American standards. If you were a wiseacre by choice, would you refuse medical treatment beyond a certain point? Would you spend a million dollars worth of resources to recover when this amount could relieve the worst of poverty for 25,000 children? These questions are easy to philosophize about, but when your loved one has cancer or has been in a car wreck, most wouldn’t hesitate to use whatever it takes. Still, we can do many things to prevent illness and reduce the ecological footprint associated with staying healthy.
What strategies/actions are you using/considering regarding health and medical care [if you don't rely on social healthcare] in your life span?
Especially if you're targeting LCOL (meaning that you also need to be more creative), although, this is not only for a those interested in a low ecological footprint.
As you see, I am limiting the scope of the discussion somewhat.
For the purposes of this thread, we're not interested in situations where one would *mostly* rely on social security/public or subsidized healthcare, although of course the costs in such a scenario are collectively paid via social security. What's your approach if you don't or can't rely (or besides relying) on that?
I'm aware this excludes many cases, but it is sometimes useful to limit the scope of a discussed topic. Healthcare systems worldwide differ and evolve, and some specifics (like those of the US healthcare system) have been discussed elsewhere.
However, because the topic itself is universal and would benefit from a holistic approach, everyone can contribute, focusing on what can be done outside of relying on social security/the healthcare system.
I'll post a few of my own thoughts later on.
