Mercury Spill • Hacker News Board

Re: Mercury Spill

#231

Post by tajen » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 7:42 AM UTC

cortesoft wrote: post #127

fiatmoney wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Because of this, I avoid making any claims unless absolutely required." This is economically efficient behavior - and in fact you should set your deductible to the highest amount you can afford out-of-pocket, as insurance is really only efficient for amounts above that. You should be aiming towards insuring catastrophic loss - eg, a fire that burns your whole house down.

Yes, self insurance is always better if possible, since that means your cost is exactly equal to your risk. When you buy third party insurance, your cost is going to equal your risk + profit + overhead for the insurance company. You self insure when you can afford the max cost you could incur (e.g. You could buy a new car if you had to.) You buy insurance when you can't afford the rare but very costly catastrophic lo…

When renting a car, I don't usually take the insurance to reduce the excess from $5,000 to $0. However, I wonder whether rental companies are then keener to take note of a little scratch, especially when it was preexisting but gone unnoticed at initial inspection.

Re: Mercury Spill

#232

Post by pierre » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 7:48 AM UTC

ccvannorman wrote: post #14

It may have cost you $50,000 but you now have +50 karma on HN and rising. Some would say a bargain! ;-] In all seriousness, cool story, glad you're okay, and this makes me think "insurance" as a business needs to be re-thought entirely. How many times has it happened that insurance companies weasel out of paying? Objectively you might think THAT was their primary job.

If you are interesting about innovation in insurance this post is a good startpoint : https://medium.com/@robmoff/disrupting-insurance-4cf61fb8c55...

There is little insurance startup compared to fintech but 'insurtech' is a really promising field with old incumbent and a lot of opportunities.

Re: Mercury Spill

#233

Post by tirant » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 7:50 AM UTC

jules wrote: post #225

TeMPOraL wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So we can't really trust even in insurance for big things? Fuck it. Who can we trust with anything nowadays?

Move out of the US.

Much better in Europe. Never had any issue with any of the claims to my insurance company, and price did not go up.

They even provide legal support for incidents outside home. I had a bike crash, and they took all the required paperwork and settled with the other part without me paying a dime.

Re: Mercury Spill

#234

Post by ghaff » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 7:54 AM UTC

rdtsc wrote: post #43

nathanb wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When one of my upstairs toilets started leaking in my house in the US, it finally got so bad that I noticed a stain on the garage ceiling. The insurance inspector said that insurance would not cover a "slow leak". I was very nice and polite and pointed out how soaked the subfloor was and that there was no way to know when the leak started (which was true). She wrote her recommendation that it be covered, which the co…

Yap. An insurance inspector if they are nice enough, will let you know between the lines how you need to phrase your claim. Forgot what the trick word was when we had a leak at our house, but it was similar phrasing -- "So let me remind you, if it is , we'll cover it. If it is we won't. So... which one is it". -- "Oh ok, definetely then ...". /smile

I've had (I think) a somewhat similar experience. My water line into my house broke outside and had to be replaced. When I called my insurance company, the adjuster made it clear that the costs "to find the exact source of the leak" would be covered but pipe replacement would not be. So I obviously still had to cover part of the job but was able to get the bill itemized in a way that insurance still paid a reasonable portion.

Re: Mercury Spill

#235

Post by tirant » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 7:54 AM UTC

31reasons wrote: post #115

As a kid I often played with mercury used in a blood pressure monitor. Spilling it on the table and mesmerized by its look and feel. I am not sure what damages that might have caused to my brain now that I know its toxic!

I did the same. I broke an old thermometer just to play with the mercury. I used to keep it in a small metal box. Some years later I went to check it, and I had all disappeared from the metal box!!

Re: Mercury Spill

#236

Post by TeMPOraL » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 8:06 AM UTC

jules wrote: post #225

TeMPOraL wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So we can't really trust even in insurance for big things? Fuck it. Who can we trust with anything nowadays?

Move out of the US.

I'm in Poland. But I guess given how everything is international now, I doubt EU has it any better than the US.

Re: Mercury Spill

#237

Post by Crito » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 8:27 AM UTC

steven777400 wrote: post #26

I wonder how this kind of thing plays out for people that don't have anywhere near $50k available. I'm assuming since the company worked first and then invoiced, that the options would be either (1) sell the house and use the proceeds (assuming equity exists) to pay off the cleaning, or (2) declare bankruptcy. If the company were to require pre-payment for cleaning, then it's really just down to either (1) abandon an…

How normal (not wealthy and/or Californian) Americans deal with mercury in their home:

1) Ignore it, or sweep it into a dustpan and throw it out if it really bothers them.

2) Enjoy not having a $50,000 bill.

3) Almost certainly live into their 80s anyway.

Re: Mercury Spill

#238

Post by pjc50 » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 8:43 AM UTC

ccvannorman wrote: post #14

It may have cost you $50,000 but you now have +50 karma on HN and rising. Some would say a bargain! ;-] In all seriousness, cool story, glad you're okay, and this makes me think "insurance" as a business needs to be re-thought entirely. How many times has it happened that insurance companies weasel out of paying? Objectively you might think THAT was their primary job.

Weaseling out of paying is their primary job, yes.

("Companies are legally obliged to maximise shareholder value" isn't exactly true, but it's usually what people cite when a business is doing something awful)

Re: Mercury Spill

#239

Post by noonespecial » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 8:48 AM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #41

ccvannorman wrote: post #14

It may have cost you $50,000 but you now have +50 karma on HN and rising. Some would say a bargain! ;-] In all seriousness, cool story, glad you're okay, and this makes me think "insurance" as a business needs to be re-thought entirely. How many times has it happened that insurance companies weasel out of paying? Objectively you might think THAT was their primary job.

Insurance is such a scam. A friend of mine made two claims within about five years: once for water damage and once for a burglary. The insurance company agreed that she was covered. So they paid her and then dropped her. No big deal, right? Wrong. Once you've made a claim or two against your insurance, it can be very hard to get any new insurance company to cover you. She finally did find a new insurer, but the price…

Basically, thanks to CLUE, you only really get to use insurance once. Take this into account when thinking about your premiums and any claim you consider making. Insurance is for the big fire that takes it all. Also (in my experience), hire a lawyer who's wise in the ways of insurance weasel-speak to shepherd your claim. They're worth more than their fee in additional payout.

Lastly, always investigate how hard it will be to get insurance on a property you are considering buying. Water and/or mold damage claims typically remain against a property in the CLUE indefinitely.

Re: Mercury Spill

#240

Post by jvdh » Fri, Oct 09, 2015, 8:49 AM UTC

vixen99 wrote: post #206

brianpan wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a 1.5 year-old that undoubtably puts everything in his/her mouth. Even the CDC factsheet says the impact of low levels of exposure is unknown. And we're not talking about the milligrams in a CFL bulb, a speck of mercury. This was cups of mercury.

Impact unknown! Meanwhile many American dentists install mercury amalgam (about 50% Hg) in tooth cavities inches from the brain where it will sit for years on end. How can anyone support this with a straight face. The response is something like 'yes,we know mercury is a devastating neurotoxin but it's tightly bound in the amalgam and there is no proven statistical relationship to say it's dangerous'.

Haven't amalgam fillings been phased out yet? At least in the Netherlands most dentists now use composites to fill cavities.

Wikipedia seems to suggest that the performance of those is comparable to amalgam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_composite

Cost also seems to be comparable, where composites may even be cheaper than amalgam, because of all the environmental issues surrounding the amalgam material.