DNA of relative indicts man, cuckolding ignored

[Tim May]

On Monday, July 7, 2003, at 05:53  PM, Stormwalker wrote:

> On Mon, 7 Jul 2003, Tim May wrote:
>>>   I have to disagree here. Medical insurance is not the same as life
>>>   or car insurance. It was all supposed to be a big pool that we 
>>> would
>>>   draw on when needed. By skimmimng the cream, infant mortality rates
>>>   rise, along with a host of other problems.
>> No, it was NOT "all supposed to be a big pool that we would draw on
>> when needed." You seem to be confusing medical insurance with
>> nationalized social medicine.
>
>    No, I am not confusing medical insurance with socialized medicine
>    or anything else. I mentioned life insurance on purpose. That is a
>    bet on when I will die, they bet later, I bet earlier. Money can
>    be made - although never by me unless I cheat.
>
>    Medical insurance is about maintenence of our lives. You do not
>    need to participate, but I'll bet if you get hurt, you'll head
>    to the nearest emergency room. The pool I speak of is simply that
>    I may need the services now and you may need some later. We all have
>    shared types of services and very specific service. I will most 
> likely
>    never need medical services for AIDS, but I have used them for 
> broken
>    bones. I will never need them for gyno or for giving birth services,
>    but I may need them for prostrate problems. We all use them when we 
> are
>    born.

Medical insurance, car insurance, life insurance, home insurance, boat 
insurance, etc., are all just variations on a theme.

When AAA Insurance meets with Joe Sixpack to discuss his health or life 
or earthquake insurance, they seek to collect enough information to 
have a reasonable chance of turning a profit on the deal. Else why 
would they exist as a business?

They likely never have complete information, about fault lines, or fire 
hazards, or unhealthy behavior, but they can manage their risks 
reasonably well by standard statistical sampling and actuarial data 
methods.

I won't waste my time further arguing your "medial insurance is 
different" point until you show you have some basic grounding in how 
the real economy works and can explain why you think medical insurance 
is somehow exempt from the normal profit/loss considerations.

Saying that health care is important is not enough. It's just another 
purchased service, after all.

>
>
>> Do I really need to explain this concept here, to subscribers here?
>
>   Well, you probably don't need to explain the problems of socialized
>   medicine, but I would like to hear about how you will do your own
>   X-Rays or chemotherapy.

First, I pay for my own such needs out of my own pocket. Many firms and 
well-off individuals are "self-insured." Insurance is not something 
magical, it's just a set of tradeoffs of risk and ability to pay. For 
those who cannot possibly raise the $100K for a seldom-needed 
operation, paying $5000 a year in premiums _may_ make sense. Because 
they perceive the consequences of not having the money to buy the 
operation, despite its unlikelihood, to be worth the payment each year. 
And so on, for a range of scenarios.

Second, if I wished to have insurance I would buy it.

That's how I would get x-rays or chemotherapy.

Saying that because I do not share your views about socialized 
insurance I must plan on making my own x-ray machine or brewing my own 
cancer chemicals is not only silly, it is disingenuous.
>
>> Medical insurance is a risk arbitrage betting scheme just like all
>> other insurance: the actor selling a policy (a contract) is making the
>> bet that he will make more money than he pays out. If he finds out
>> something that alters the expectation of some illness or disease or
>> hazardous activity, then he adjusts the policy premiums accordingly 
>> (or
>> even refuses to sell a policy at any price, for understandable 
>> reasons).
>
>   Not any more. See life insurance. Also, please keep in mind that
>   insurance compnaies do not make their money from premiums, but
>   from investments of all the premiums they collect and hold. Your 
> model
>   is not correct.

You're further gone than I thought.


--Tim May
"The State is the great fiction by which everyone seeks to live at the 
expense of everyone else." --Frederic Bastiat