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Because after 70 you get all kind of weird things happen to your body, whether you are a diet snob or not.
Most people probably could, just as most people could get along fine without any car insurance until, say, their attention wavers and they're at fault in an accident causing $100K in damage and medical bills, at which point they're no longer "most people". The point of insurance should be to cover the extraordinary and unexpected, not to cover the everyday.
The second part of this question is how long could you live and not be bankrupt without health insurance. In 1950 if you broke an arm, chances are you could pay for it. Do that today and wallah- probably 10's of thousands of dollars. Even a short term stay in the hospital can easily run up to the 100's of thousands of dollars.
That goes back to question No.1- the OP's question. So let's say you decide to take a chance and not have health insurance. The next day you get in a wreck and have a nice little stay in the hospital, exiting with a $250,000 bill. For most people that would basically spell the end of their financial future. As such they would probably also forgo future medial treatments, eat less healthy, and so on. Thus this in turn could very easily contribute to a decline in their health and possibly a shortening of their life expectancy as well.
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I got to thinking about this, people in the mid 1950's had to health care that would be considered substandard today, but they didn't die like lemmings. In 1950 the Life expectancy: Women 71.1, men 65.6, today the number are not much better Life Expectancy: Male 73.1 Female 79.1(1997). I would suspect most of the numbers can be explained in improvements to traffic safety than any medical breakthrough. 35% of health care costs are spent on people 65 and older. So assuming you had no health insurance, How long do you think you would live? Other than going to the dentist every year, I have never been hospitalized and I do not take prescription drugs. I think most people could get along fine without any insurance until they are in there 60's. (Assuming a healthy diet, no smoking or other unhealthy activities)