Financial lessons from my family's experience with long-term care insurance
whitecoatinvestor.com
Financial lessons from my family's experience with long-term care insurance
1–10 of 210 posts
Re: Financial lessons from my family's experience with long-term care insurance
#2Delay, deny, defend --- this is the insurance industry's modus operandi.
Insurance is the only industry where customers are the enemy.
Re: Financial lessons from my family's experience with long-term care insurance
#3Delay, deny, defend --- this is the insurance industry's modus operandi. Insurance is the only industry where customers are the enemy.
There seems to be no will to replace this dysfunctional arrangement with a social safety net unfortunately.
Re: Financial lessons from my family's experience with long-term care insurance
#4There are three things a nation needs to accept about universal health care:
(1) It’s expensive (2) Everybody has to pay (3) The government’s gotta run it
Re: Financial lessons from my family's experience with long-term care insurance
#5Delay, deny, defend --- this is the insurance industry's modus operandi. Insurance is the only industry where customers are the enemy.
The crucial understanding is that incentives are cross aligned because the product is risk coverage.
The more immediate/pressing your need for risk coverage, the worse it is for them to sell it to you. The less you need it, the better it is for them to sell it to you and the worse for you to buy it.
Pretty different than ice cream or cars or housing. Too many people just think “oh corporate greed” without thinking about the underlying economics (partly because of how us culture pretends markets are magic).
Re: Financial lessons from my family's experience with long-term care insurance
#6Delay, deny, defend --- this is the insurance industry's modus operandi. Insurance is the only industry where customers are the enemy.
The crucial understanding is that incentives are cross aligned because the product is risk coverage. The more immediate/pressing your need for risk coverage, the worse it is for them to sell it to you. The less you need it, the better it is for them to sell it to you and the worse for you to buy it. Pretty different than ice cream or cars or housing. Too many people just think “oh corporate greed” without thinking ab…
This is why state's have insurance commissions.
In the past, insurance companies (think: liability, fire, life, shipping) responded to a claim by hiring a lawyer and negotiating down. Like most contracts.
So states began creating insurance commissions, which serve as law firms that defend consumers from insurance companies. In practice, their existence forces insurance companies to pay what they are owed.
We need insurance commissions for health insurance. If there is a reason why the policy shouldn't pay (services received after policy expired, for example), the insurance commission has to sign off.
This is how normal insurance works. Health insurance, of course, is not normal insurance.
Re: Financial lessons from my family's experience with long-term care insurance
#7There are three things a nation needs to accept about universal health care: (1) It’s expensive (2) Everybody has to pay (3) The government’s gotta run it
Americans are perfectly conditioned to instinctively and aggressively deny all three. :(
Re: Financial lessons from my family's experience with long-term care insurance
#8There are three things a nation needs to accept about universal health care: (1) It’s expensive (2) Everybody has to pay (3) The government’s gotta run it
>The government’s gotta run it
But there are plenty of countries with functioning healthcare systems that are private? The Swiss, for instance. Moreover depending on what counts as "government’s gotta run it" (paying for it? administering it? actually providing care?) you can argue that the German or even Canadian systems aren't government run, at least to some degree.
Re: Financial lessons from my family's experience with long-term care insurance
#9There are three things a nation needs to accept about universal health care: (1) It’s expensive (2) Everybody has to pay (3) The government’s gotta run it
Government does not have to run it. Gokernment needs to ensure it is run well but there is no reason they have to run it.
Re: Financial lessons from my family's experience with long-term care insurance
#10Delay, deny, defend --- this is the insurance industry's modus operandi. Insurance is the only industry where customers are the enemy.
People need to stop looking at it like this.
Healthcare is a triangle. There are three players. You, Insurance, and Doctor.
All three are adversaries and allies in different ways.