Insurance as a Volitional Technology

[Dylan Lawrence Moore]

 

The attitude I received about insurance from my family and social network growing up was that it wasn't much more than a scam. You get just enough so the state doesn't slap a ticket on you, and so your family doesn't guilt you for not having it. My father regularly drove without car insurance and my mother could never give me an adequate explanation other than I "just needed to have it".

I've learned much since then, and it occurred to me one day after getting some real training on the usefulness of insurance and some historical perspective of where it came from, that insurance is one of the primary tools we use to keep our societies running.

What exactly does it mean to "mitigate risk"? Video below.

 

[MercurySunlight]

These days, it strikes me more like racketeering. 

[MercurySunlight]

3 hours ago, MercurySunlight said:

These days, it strikes me more like racketeering. 

Okay, I posted this personal observation before watching the video. Interesting that you used Italians as an example. Mafia protection money, anyone?

Racketeering comes to mind again when you mention not having enough choices when buying insurance across state lines. Even if you could, there can still be price fixing between the companies so that there isn't a way to get a better deal, just the lesser of two evils, so to speak.

A lot of this comes down to making money. Insurance companies are in the business of making money, not helping people. The game is rigged so that you have to pay more any time they can rig it. An example would be that cars don't drive themselves, so why do you have to pay to insure the cars instead of the person driving them? More money for the insurance companies.

Health insurance is tied into the Big Pharma, the medical profession, hospitals, staff, and medical equipment overhead. There's no money in healthy or dead people. The money is in managed care. It's one reason doctors don't instruct their patients on nutrition. It's one reason insurance companies don't cover naturopathic alternatives such as Phase 4 Cold Laser treatments for pain and healing instead of pain meds or salt room treatments to improve lung health.

It's all about money. It's a racket.

 

[Dylan Lawrence Moore]

1 hour ago, MercurySunlight said:

Okay, I posted this personal observation before watching the video. Interesting that you used Italians as an example. Mafia protection money, anyone?

I was snickering to myself about that very image when I said it.

1 hour ago, MercurySunlight said:

Racketeering comes to mind again when you mention not having enough choices when buying insurance across state lines. Even if you could, there can still be price fixing between the companies so that there isn't a way to get a better deal, just the lesser of two evils, so to speak.

A lot of this comes down to making money. Insurance companies are in the business of making money, not helping people. The game is rigged so that you have to pay more any time they can rig it.

There is nothing unique to insurance companies about this. Any business can do this. It's competition that keeps this at bay.

1 hour ago, MercurySunlight said:

An example would be that cars don't drive themselves, so why do you have to pay to insure the cars instead of the person driving them? More money for the insurance companies.

You don't have to pay insurance on cars. You can total it and be out a car.

However, you do have to insure your liability for driving a car. You might hurt someone else or destroy their property.

Also, what's wrong with more money for insurance companies? Again, I don't see how that differs from any other business looking to make profit.

1 hour ago, MercurySunlight said:

Health insurance is tied into the Big Pharma, the medical profession, hospitals, staff, and medical equipment overhead. There's no money in healthy or dead people. The money is in managed care. It's one reason doctors don't instruct their patients on nutrition. It's one reason insurance companies don't cover naturopathic alternatives such as Phase 4 Cold Laser treatments for pain and healing instead of pain meds or salt room treatments to improve lung health.

You must not have listened to my video carefully. There is more money in healthy people than sick ones as far as the insurance companies are concerned; healthy people don't make as many claims as sick ones. Obviously the situation is screwed up because the government gets involved--again, this applies to any business. In talking about insurance, I was looking at the raw concept and its affects on behavior, both of the insurance company and the insured. 

2 hours ago, MercurySunlight said:

It's all about money. It's a racket.

Of course it's all about money. It's a business. Why does this make it a racket?

[MercurySunlight]

Re: Insuring the driver instead of the car.

I should have clarified. This is about the required liability end of things and not car replacement or repair.

Let's say you have five cars. You are required by law to have liability insurance. The car doesn't go out and injure other people all by itself. So, why are we required to buy insurance for each car instead of the driver/owner of the cars?

4 hours ago, Dylan Lawrence Moore said:

Also, what's wrong with more money for insurance companies? Again, I don't see how that differs from any other business looking to make profit.

You must not have listened to my video carefully. There is more money in healthy people than sick ones as far as the insurance companies are concerned; healthy people don't make as many claims as sick ones. Obviously the situation is screwed up because the government gets involved--again, this applies to any business. In talking about insurance, I was looking at the raw concept and its affects on behavior, both of the insurance company and the insured. 

If that's the case, and they aren't tied into Big Pharma, why will they not cover Cold Laser treatments for pain relief instead of prescribing drugs which only manage the disease? I have a little personal experience with this. My best friend is a Naturopathic MD and uses a PhaseIV Cold Laser to treat pain and help tissue healing. This thing is amazing and she used it on my carpel tunnel. It took my hands from burning so bad at night I couldn't sleep and had to get up iceing my hands all night, down to the numb stage in one treatment. After three treatments, there was enough healing that I was able to use my hands again. I use my hands a lot as an artist and gardener, so this was a big deal for me. Now, I was a skeptic on some of this alternative treatment jazz. But, the relief of my pain and regaining the use of my hands has convinced me otherwise.

ETA: Have you ever watched the documentary "Forks Over Knives"? I highly recommend it. 

[Dylan Lawrence Moore]

15 hours ago, MercurySunlight said:

Re: Insuring the driver instead of the car.

I should have clarified. This is about the required liability end of things and not car replacement or repair.

Let's say you have five cars. You are required by law to have liability insurance. The car doesn't go out and injure other people all by itself. So, why are we required to buy insurance for each car instead of the driver/owner of the cars?

This exists. It's called broadband insurance. It insures YOU for whatever car you're driving in, regardless of what it is. However, if you have broadband insurance, if someone else drives in your car, they're not insured.

Also, with the 5 car example, it's got a pretty simply solution: call the insurance company and insure a car for the one day you're going to drive it. Noncommercial auto insurance is prorated by law.

15 hours ago, MercurySunlight said:

If that's the case, and they aren't tied into Big Pharma, why will they not cover Cold Laser treatments for pain relief instead of prescribing drugs which only manage the disease?

Because the government fucked everything up.