Dude, you say you are retired. And a few years ago, bragging about your Porsche 911. And now, you’re and pissie over a smog abatement fee. That’s less than probably you spending wining and dining each night.

I don’t understand as people get more wealthy, the more stingy people get…

Sheet, if we are in the bitch and moan mood, I surely didn’t appreciate getting handed to me a lifeline medical condition that I need to always get a colonscopy and MRI each year, and that costs me probably $2000/year extra insured, $30k extra uninsured…. I guess I should expect that to be free too.

[quote=NeetaT]Flu, I love you too. I have to get a liver ultrasound every 6 months. People don’t realize that it is health insurance that makes healthcare so expensive. If there was no such thing as health insurance the cost of healthcare would adjust to supply and demand along with average household income. If you add up all the premiums paid over the years plus how that money would have grown, you would indeed have more than enough money to pay medical expenses and then some, because the cost of healthcare would be much lower. Insurance creates inflation, because there is a big pot of money to draw from.[/quote]

Well that’s interesting. That’s not what my experience seems to suggest…

You see if I go get my MRI every 6months, and supposedly if I didn’t have insurance, the hospital+doctors end up billing me the full retail price. $30k… However, the moment PPO is involved, that price drops from $30k to $3k.

A lot of people say, well you can negotiate with the hospital/doctor to get a lower rate if you didn’t have insurance. Really? This isn’t buying a Porsche in which you have the option to simply not buy and have the time and energy to comparison shop. If you are in immediate need of medical treatment/diagnosis, is it really practical to go “shopping at different hospitals” for the lowest cost option? And even if you could, sometimes if you have a specialized condition, there are not “options”. People who think this is entirely possible are completely out of touch with reality.

So, our medical system is messed up. Insurance isn’t the only reason why medical care is expensive. It’s messed up in different ways.

Anyway, kinda pointless to be all pissed off about a DMV smog abatement fee when you’re on the hook for $$$$ in medical expenses too. Picking the wrong fight imho.

[quote=moneymaker]I would rather pay this $20-$25 fee than go have my 4 year old vehicle smogged for $60-$80 and waste my time as well as the time of the technician at the smog station. Is there a choice? Or is this a yearly fee where it ends up costing the same either way? Smogging my 2015 VW Passat is on my agenda today, fees due to DMV $370.[/quote]

There are some zip codes that do not have a biannual smog check. The implications of having a po box in those zip codes are left as an exercise for the reader.