From: nobody@neva.org (Neva Remailer)
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 05:30:09 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: Protocols for Insurance to Maintain Privacy
Message-ID: <199710302109.PAA03011@multi26.netcomi.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain




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Alan Olsen wrote:
>Actually, the real "sucker rates" are the amounts small businesses
>pay for insurance.
>
>The big businesses (who can buy in bulk) get a pretty reasonable deal
>for what they get.  The smaller companies who cannot bargain the
>price down get screwed.  (The rate my wife's employer was paying was
>close to double what my insurance costs and it covered ALOT less.)

You can improve the situation by purchasing high deductible policies.
It is astonishing how quickly the rates fall when you are willing to
pay the first few thousand yourself.

Also, many small business owners seek out other small business owners
and purchase their insurance collectively.  I have heard this works
fairly well, although it gives each participant less discretion, just
like if they were employed by a large company.

>I seriously doubt that most people could afford to self-insure at the
>going rate.  (Not unless they have some serious income they want to
>get rid of.)

I'd guess there are a lot more people who can self insure than you
think, but their net worth should be $200,000+.

I'm not convinced that disaster medical care is all that expensive.
Consider AIDS.  I've heard that it costs about $30,000 to care for
somebody with this disease.  After ten years that's only $300,000.
Yet, this is often put forth as a problem which causes insurance
companies great trouble and causes rates to increase significantly.

Does anybody know what the odds of hitting $300,000 are?  I'm just
guessing, but the odds are probably higher that you would die in some
other way.

Monty Cantsin
Editor in Chief
Smile Magazine
http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html
http://www.neoism.org/squares/cantsin_10.htm

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