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> This sort of story is pure narrative fallacy My favorite of these are the articles which criticize health insurers who invest in things like tobacco products
by chimeracoder 10y ago
> This sort of story is pure narrative fallacy
My favorite of these are the articles which criticize health insurers who invest in things like tobacco products.
The point of insurance is to manage risk. Tobacco is indisputably linked to expensive health consequences down the line, so if there is an increase in tobacco consumption, that would generate more claims for health insurers down the line. Capturing some portion of the tobacco industry's profits in this case is an example of smoothing that risk[0]. Health insurers do a lot of really scummy and unethical things, but this is not an example of one.
[0] Of course, that assumes that health insurance is meant to act like insurance, which it by and large is not - health insurance is no longer about insurance at all. That, of course, is a separate matter altogether).
- hammock 10y agoSugary snacks and diabetes pills are complementary goods though, magnifying risk not managing it. So your example is kind of unrelated.
- throwaway049 10y agoIt may also be that someone who dies early from smoking related disease would otherwise have gone on to cost the insurer even more in treatment for some other longer term problem. I am speculating, but I would imagine insurers have analysed this.