Why not just pay out excess money to the members? Or to non-claimers to encourage good risk behavior?
Show HN: Lemonade – the world's first P2P insurance company
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Re: Show HN: Lemonade – the world's first P2P insurance company
#112This is wildly un-new. Mutual insurance companies have existed for literally hundreds of years. Oldest one I can find in 5 minutes dates to 1762, and if you include merchant insurance organizations, probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Equitable_Life_Assurance_S...
Probably 20% (edit, now that I think of it, maybe up to 50%) of "hot new startups" I see posted to the front page of HN on a weekly basis are an existing business model with a slick web 2.0 front end, CSS/HTML5, etc, a marketing department run by generation Y and some mobile app developers.
Yup. Amazon is 'just' a department store with home delivery - been around since Victorian times. Google - directory enquiries. First launched in the 1930s. /s
Re: Show HN: Lemonade – the world's first P2P insurance company
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
True. We like to say that Lemonade is the oldest new idea! I think that's what the sharing economy is all about, using technology to revive modes of social interaction that used to be commonplace.
Thats a great way of looking at the sharing economy. Once upon a time I asked my neighbor for a cup of sugar and they obliged, if even begrudgingly. Nowadays I pay a task rabbit $35 to get me a cup of sugar.
I'm not sure whether you are rich or joking.
Re: Show HN: Lemonade – the world's first P2P insurance company
#114If they pay claims super fast and earn no money saying "no", how, as a customer, can I be sure other customers do not make fake claims and decrease my share of leftover money? Or even make Lemonade unable to pay claims?
Re: Show HN: Lemonade – the world's first P2P insurance company
#115How is this more "P2P" than other insurance companies are? Non-profit, yes, but the mechanism seems to be the same. There is still a central pot everybody pays into. I would like a non-profit that just pays back the spare money even more. I do not know how this would work with regulations. I guess in Germany this could be done through a "Genossenschaft", which Wikipedia tells me has an US equivalent called co-op. Wou…
The structure you describe is called "Versicherungsverein auf Gegenseitigkeit" in Germany. They are the oldest kind of insurance and still occupy a respectable portion of the market.
Public social insurance is even more P2P than that as dues are calculated based on actual payouts. This is most pronounced in the mandatory worker's accident insurance where employers just pay their share (based on size and risk profile) of last year's claims in their sector.
Re: Show HN: Lemonade – the world's first P2P insurance company
#116The best form of insurance is self insurance, if you have some money on the side. Instead of paying someone to insure the risk (and get rich on top of the rent), I allocate a reasonable amount (5 figures) and put it on the side, and take the risk on myself.
Re: Show HN: Lemonade – the world's first P2P insurance company
#117This is wildly un-new. Mutual insurance companies have existed for literally hundreds of years. Oldest one I can find in 5 minutes dates to 1762, and if you include merchant insurance organizations, probably https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Equitable_Life_Assurance_S...
True. We like to say that Lemonade is the oldest new idea! I think that's what the sharing economy is all about, using technology to revive modes of social interaction that used to be commonplace.
What are you 'sharing' exactly? When did this word get redefined by corporations to mean charging a fee for a service?
Re: Show HN: Lemonade – the world's first P2P insurance company
#118I happen to have been looking for renters insurance recently. I signed up immediately after reading the insurance policy terms. They are about as generous as the terms offered by Liberty Mutual, but LM wanted to charge me more than 3x as much, and I had a strange and frustrating conversation with a LM agent that left a bad taste in my mouth. Charity or no charity, it's a great deal. However I made two mistakes. First…
You should probably avoid all companies who do not give their phone number and address on their websites...
Re: Show HN: Lemonade – the world's first P2P insurance company
#119The best form of insurance is self insurance, if you have some money on the side. Instead of paying someone to insure the risk (and get rich on top of the rent), I allocate a reasonable amount (5 figures) and put it on the side, and take the risk on myself.
I wouldn't go as far as calling it the "best" form. This can spread the risk over time-dimension of a single trajectory (i.e. your trajectory). Conventional Insurance has more space to spread the risk over: the trajectory of everyone who enlist themselves.
Re: Show HN: Lemonade – the world's first P2P insurance company
#120I have to say, I'm pretty excited by this. Mutual insurance companies have existed for a good while, but they're not easy to find. Having one that's married to great tech definitely makes me want to use it.
How do you know they have great tech?