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GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

glp1digest.com

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Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#391

Post by dmurray »

wormius wrote: post #332
abruzzi wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mounjaro uses a single use fully autometed injector--clean your skin, remove the cap, press the injector against your skin, then press a button. A springloaded needle penetrates you skin and a spring loaded plunger injects the medicine. You have no way to pull backthe plunger to see if you are in a vein/artery. I've never used Ozempic, but my understanding was it used a device similar to insulin pens--dial you dosage…

Yeah, both Ozempic and Trulicity have automated systems like this, just press a button and pop. Is there even a way to hit a vein? The needle is not very deep (it's subcutaneous, just barely under the skin). And it's the stomach, which AFAIK, doesn't have a lot of exposed veins? Either way super simple and quick. Fairly painless. I had a weird rash one time, but apart from that a total of about 15 injections haven't…

> And it's the stomach, which AFAIK, doesn't have a lot of exposed veins

And it's mostly for people who have plenty of stomach fat, so even less chance of hitting something else.

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#392

Post by eru »

_9ptr wrote: post #140
carlosjobim wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is great, they are by definition a net negative on the economy as a whole? You shouldn't gamble on your own health.

Oh come on, you can't be serious. It's not a gamble, you transfer your risk to a collective.

It doesn't matter whether your counterparty for your insurance is a collective or a single individual like Warren Buffett.

The 'collective' part is a distraction when trying to understand insurance.

Similar for insurance to work you don't need to have a group of people who are in the same situation as you: in principle an insurer can work out the risks, even if you are in a unique situation.

It's just that working these things out costs time and money, so it's cheaper for you, if you are like everyone else.

But eg if you are a famous singer, you can insure your voice just fine. Companies also regularly purchase insurance against customers winning prizes. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_indemnity_insurance

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#393

Post by stavros »

eru wrote: post #385
stavros wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been on GLP-1 for a month and my triglycerides halved, and my cholesterol dropped to the levels it was in my twenties. If that's not a predictor of lower mortality, there's something wrong with our fundamental medical knowledge.

Has your weight dropped?

Yes, I lost around 4kg. Though the triglycerides and cholesterol are mostly because I stopped eating sweets and fatty foods, not because of the weight loss itself.

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#394

Post by pugz »

Auracle wrote: post #360
stingraycharles wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn’t say unnoticeable, but rather a trade-off that’s fine. My stomach is definitely more sensitive, can’t handle coffee in the morning anymore, etc. It probably depends on the person.

Huh. I’m at a healthy weight but I’m taking retatrutide for IBS and it’s working wonders. Very low dose, though. I originally tried it with semaglutide before the weight loss craze kicked off and the first few days of the week were worse and the latter half of the week was better, so that didn’t make sense for me to stay on.

Can you say more about retatrutide for IBS? My IBS is debilitating to the point where I usually refuse to eat food on week-long work trips, because the unplanned emergency toilet trips wreak havoc with my schedule and ability to sit in meetings all day. I'd never heard there was a solution to it.

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#395

Post by eru »

ecb_penguin wrote: post #95
hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every single life insurer? All at once? Jeez.... I guess in that scenario I become a billionaire because it will be very easy to scoop up some VC money to snoop up some of those newly unemployed actuaries to monopolize the market at a profit margin an order of magnitude larger than any of my now non-existent competition, because this is a financial product and doesn't require months of building a factory or something…

If you think it's that simple, you have no idea what you're talking about. How many years experience do you have in the insurance industry that you're so confident to talk like this? > because this is a financial product and doesn't require months of building a factory or something to offer. How many financial instruments have you launched? If the answer is zero, you should refrain from any conversations on the topic…

I think you are misunderstanding the counterfactual.

Right now, it would be hard for an amateur to make a living starting up a new life insurance company, because there's lots of competent competition.

However, _if_ all existing life insurers went bankrupts, then, yes, you could easily make a killing by starting a new slightly less incompetent life insurance company.

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#396

Post by firesteelrain »

const_cast wrote: post #345
firesteelrain wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started in Aug 2024 and stopped in Oct 2024. I paid for it from one of the pharmacies that made it in Florida. I injected myself with insulin needles that they send you.

No offense, but that's not particularly impressive and you're bragging about your discipline a bit prematurely. It's highly likely in the next ten years you will regain most of the weight back. I've known many, many, people to lose weight via extreme diets such as keto. Such diets are unsustainable for almost everyone. It will work for a year or two, but inevitably, they will falter. Often it only takes a very small…

My partner on this medicine over a period of two years went from 300 to 197. They have not gained it back after stopping. Their diabetes was reversed and is now in prediabetes. They still has to take Metformin.

In order for me to gain all that weight back, I would have to eat a ton of calories per day and completely stop moving/exercise.

It’s been nearly a year since I started losing all that weight and I haven’t slide back on my diet. It does take discipline

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#397

Post by eru »

ecb_penguin wrote: post #151
hiAndrewQuinn wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do actually think it's that simple, yes. Term life is just not that complicated a product at heart. Onus is on you to prove that if every single life insurance provider was suddenly Thanos snapped out of existence tomorrow, we wouldn't see a swarm of hungry financial professionals swoop right back in to recreate the service within weeks. That seems like a laughable claim to me, but maybe you know something I don't.…

"the Dunning–Kruger effect is the thesis that those who are incompetent in a given area tend to be ignorant of their incompetence, i.e., they lack the metacognitive ability to become aware of their incompetence. This definition lends itself to a simple explanation of the effect: incompetence often includes being unable to tell the difference between competence and incompetence." I think this very accurately sums up y…

Funny enough, Dunning-Kruger's study never showed anything remotely as what's nowadays called the Dunning-Kruger effect on the Internet.

Their study was mostly just a statistical artifact.

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#398

Post by eru »

jtrn wrote: post #230
OptionOfT wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you see a decrease in people gambling / drinking when on the medication? N=1, I'm on ZepBound and in general my brain is less likely to give in to things that give instant satisfaction.

Actually yes. Not as much as with ADHD medication, but obvious subset of addictive personalities that have relief from addictive behaviors (beyond eating addiction) with semiglutide.

Appropriately enough, (most) ADHD medications also tend to suppress appetites. So much so that weight loss is perhaps the most serious side effect for ADHD meds in children.

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#399

Post by eru »

int_19h wrote: post #325
jtrn wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For semaglutide, the newest and most potent GLP1. United States: The main patent is expected to expire around 2032. Monthly Price: $950 - $1,350+ (cash price without insurance) Norway: The main patent is expected to expire around 2031. Monthly Price: $109 - $301 (cash price equivalent in USD)

If these things really boost life expectancy that much, this sounds like a textbook case for eminent domain.

I'm no fan of the patent system, but "patent system promises spoils for coming up with great new drug, companies comes up with great new drug, companies gets spoils" is exactly how it's supposed to work. Yes, it's sucks that you have to pay, but that's how you incentives getting the wonder drugs invented in the first place. (I have my own take on this, but if anything this is a 'textbook case' in favour of the patent system.)

Eminent domain would still require fair compensation to the company, so you'd have to pay them more or less what they'd lose from not having the patent anymore.

(Though I think the term you might be looking for is 'compulsory licensing' or so? Not sure.)

Re: GLP-1s are breaking life insurance

#400

Post by eru »

ethbr1 wrote: post #21
aqme28 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re thinking too highly about the incentives of the US healthcare system. Since insurance is tied to your employer (and therefore changing every few years), and most people die on Medicare, there’s not much incentive for insurance companies to pay for preventative care that won’t actually help you for several decades.

That’s one reason the ACA shifted it to a mandatory (in most cases) category: https://www.healthcare.gov/preventive-care-adults/ Minimal, but minimal progress in the US was/is still progress.

It's a shame the contracts you'd need to set the right incentives are probably illegal.
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