Also without any warning or planning -- could be cancer, could be a freak accident. You never know if/when a medical emergency might happen, so you're always in an odd state of financial limbo even though it may not appear that way. You could be doing just fine squirreling away a few hundred or thousand here and there and one trip to the ER will quickly take back most of that nest egg. Even with insurance, it's absurd how much you can still be on the hook for. What's the alternative though, forgo medical treatment?