A question on insurance

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skafather84
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18 Nov 2010, 12:36 pm

Isn't an insurance's greatest strength the number of people in their collective pooling?

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18 Nov 2010, 12:49 pm

It would seem to be.

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skafather84
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18 Nov 2010, 12:51 pm

Orwell wrote:

It would seem to be.

So then wouldn't a monopoly be more efficient than an open market in ability to pool resources and lower the cost to all involved?

So then following the above, wouldn't the government be more efficient than a private monopoly given that elected officials can be excised from office whereas a monopoly (or even a duopoly) can't?

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18 Nov 2010, 1:58 pm

skafather84 wrote:

So then wouldn't a monopoly be more efficient than an open market in ability to pool resources and lower the cost to all involved?

The monopoly kills the the incentive to lower the costs or keeping the costs low, and because the rule is to maximize profit it would raise prices. Competition is the guaranty that efficiency is the lead.

skafather84 wrote:

So then following the above, wouldn't the government be more efficient than a private monopoly given that elected officials can be excised from office whereas a monopoly (or even a duopoly) can't?

Government has nothing to do with profits.

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skafather84
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18 Nov 2010, 2:18 pm

SuperApsie wrote:

But the goal with insurance is to have a maximized pooling of resources and those invested in the insurance pool. It's not a matter of finding a means to make a cheaper computer, it's a matter of the largest collective can offer the most benefits for the money contributed due to larger poolings. You can't design a weaker influenza or a society that is more health-conscious.

skafather84
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18 Nov 2010, 2:19 pm

SuperApsie wrote:

Government has nothing to do with profits.

Is illness and bad health something that should be profited from? Can it generate true profits or can it only limit and minimize losses? There has certainly been a system designed to profit but it seems, to me, to be a bubble industry with increasingly limited resources and less and less means of income as less can afford the healthcare they require on their own.

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18 Nov 2010, 3:12 pm

That would also be the insurance industry's greatest weakness, because in the event of a major natural disaster, a single underwriter is left holding the bag.

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skafather84
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18 Nov 2010, 3:14 pm

visagrunt wrote:

That would also be the insurance industry's greatest weakness, because in the event of a major natural disaster, a single underwriter is left holding the bag.

Can you expound on that a bit? And would it be the same under what I'm describing?

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18 Nov 2010, 3:15 pm

skafather84 wrote:

visagrunt wrote:

That would also be the insurance industry's greatest weakness, because in the event of a major natural disaster, a single underwriter is left holding the bag.

Can you expound on that a bit? And would it be the same under what I'm describing?

Too much damage and not enough money to cover it. It is possiblle.

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skafather84
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18 Nov 2010, 3:29 pm

ruveyn wrote:

skafather84 wrote:

visagrunt wrote:

That would also be the insurance industry's greatest weakness, because in the event of a major natural disaster, a single underwriter is left holding the bag.

Can you expound on that a bit? And would it be the same under what I'm describing?

Too much damage and not enough money to cover it. It is possiblle.

ruveyn

Yeah. Like with 9/11 or Katrina. But how does this become an issue of private vs public?

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18 Nov 2010, 3:37 pm

skafather84 wrote:

Your logic is sound. But two things are distinct:
- Risk management to create profitable and competitive contracts, products, with a determined equilibrium.
- The multiple products available competing on a market for a premium.
It is a two step procedure where you can make a product cheaper by removing some coverage. Both are for a maximized pooling of ressources.

Quote:

Is illness and bad health something that should be profited from?

I will change the question: How does a market become inefficient?

Quote:

Can it generate true profits or can it only limit and minimize losses?

The market should be deciding alone: crappy coverage with shocking price? Freedom of choice of the coverage? Clear market and product information of the customer? Ease of entrance of a new player on the market?
An abuse should be self correcting

Quote:

There has certainly been a system designed to profit but it seems, to me, to be a bubble industry with increasingly limited resources and less and less means of income as less can afford the healthcare they require on their own.

Yeah systemic crisis. Seems that no one is in control anymore. Time to squeeze whatever is left.

Lots of people think capitalism is a lazy system, but with the freedom to choose comes the duty to be informed and active consumer.

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skafather84
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18 Nov 2010, 3:41 pm

SuperApsie wrote:

- Risk management to create profitable and competitive contracts, products, with a determined equilibrium.

Risk management = Death panels.

I'll go on from there but I want to keep pointing this out because it's absolutely beyond idiocy that people decry it in one field while worshiping it in another.

skafather84
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18 Nov 2010, 3:42 pm

SuperApsie wrote:

- The multiple products available competing on a market for a premium.

How much or how little coverage you can get.

Again, it comes down to rationing health care which goes back to being death panels.

skafather84
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18 Nov 2010, 3:44 pm

SuperApsie wrote:

Quote:

Is illness and bad health something that should be profited from?

I will change the question: How does a market become inefficient?

You're assuming healthcare is a market to be itemized and sold as a product rather than a necessity of life and something that is inevitable (see: death panels).

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18 Nov 2010, 3:50 pm

Quote:

Risk management = Death panels.

Hum risk management is the mathematical base to create insurance products in the private industry, you buy or you don't

Quote:

I'll go on from there but I want to keep pointing this out because it's absolutely beyond idiocy that people decry it in one field while worshiping it in another.

That definitely require some explanation to me

Quote:

How much or how little coverage you can get.

Again, it comes down to rationing health care which goes back to being death panels.

The coverage ranges are set according to what the market has or want...

What does health care has to do with all this :?:

I was talking about a market of insurance companies :!:

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skafather84
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18 Nov 2010, 3:59 pm

SuperApsie wrote:

Quote:

Can it generate true profits or can it only limit and minimize losses?

Quote:

You separated this section but I was linking the two into one statement, the question is rhetorical and my answer is that I think it can be profitable in a short term but it leeches too much from the populous with something that takes money away from people at the time that they are already hemorrhaging money due to missing work on top of their daily expenses on top of whatever healthcare expenses that aren't covered by the insurance. It's a net loss and, generally speaking, healthcare industry is a net loss. That they make it profitable via death panels is one reason that I think it shouldn't be a private affair. Paying for every insurance worker on top of paying for the healthcare workers and equipment and medicine just isn't sustainable as a private industry.

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