Steve Furlong wrote:
Steve Furlong wrote:
Something seems to have gone wrong in transmission. The paragraph near the end which starts:
coverage for a given malady times the expected likelihood of that
should read:
coverage for a given malady times the expected likelihood of that
... OK, this isn't funny anymore. Netscape Communicator 4.51 for FreeBSD or Linux or whatever seems to have a repeatable flaw. That paragraph was supposed to be (breaking lines differently to see what that changes) the sum of (the expected cost of coverage for a given malady times the expected likelihood of that malady) had better be lower than the sum of the premiums paid, or they won't stay in business long. Forcing an insurer to accept an expected-high-cost customer at an "affordable" premium either drives up the premiums for everyone, causes a reduction in services for everyone (or a particular subgroup, but that would probably cause more trouble in the long run), or eats into insurer's bottom line. One expected-high-cost customer wouldn't break the insurer, but there's never just one. -- Steve Furlong, Computer Condottiere Have GNU, will travel 518-374-4720 sfurlong@acmenet.net