Despite having health insurance I've lost my life savings three times now to medically necessary surgery that my insurance only covered a portion of. Insurance that cost a quarter of my income.

When I was in my twenties, I got a hernia. 16k out of pocket.

A bit later, a chair at work collapsed and I broke my wrist, workers comp paid for everything treatment wise including physical therapy, my wrist is still messed up, but workers comp showed me that actual medical care IS possible.

In my thirties, I broke both my ankles when I was knocked down some stairs on the way to catch a bus to work. I went to work, worked 6 hours on broken ankles and then took a bus to the hospital that decided my insurance would only cover one, and the other one was going to be mostly out of pocket. 12k out of pocket.

and then had a polyp on my vocal cord. Health insurance covered about 2000 of that leaving me with an 8k bill. My supplemental Aflac insurance covered the cost of a taxi (up to 40 dollars one way!) to the doctor for follow up appointments.

Now I can't walk right, can't lift shit, and can barely afford insurance, I need a follow up surgery for my hernia and I'm better off losing my job and going on medicaid than trying to keep a job and pay for it myself.

I'll be renting forever

Can you elaborate about the savings taken away at 17?