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Insurance is compatible with capitalism. I don't think anyone is implying that it isn't. What we are trying to say is that in the US, insurance provides very l

Insurance is compatible with capitalism. I don't think anyone is implying that it isn't. What we are trying to say is that in the US, insurance provides very little benefit while constantly driving up cost. They actually have every incentive to shield consumers and producers from having good levels of information about value and cost. If making money from the actuarial spread were the only thing that they did, they might not be so toxic. Instead, they partition information into silo's to further create arbitrage points. Every point where they serve as gatekeeper for information is a place in the system that extra profit can be made. I think one of the things that you are assuming is that they have a single function in the market. They don't. As is often the case, simple capitalist models for ideal markets just don't match reality. They are also able to use their gains to game the system in their favor from a regulatory perspective.

anothercomment 9y ago
But why can't they be disrupted? For example some people could be pissed off that they don't get information, and companies providing information could win them over as customers. Obviously, things are not working out in the US. I am just not yet convinced that the market/capitalism is to blame, or if it is essentially corruption (including lobbyists bribing politicians to set up a system that allows the bad insurers to stay in operation).
- aianus 9y ago
  Consumers don't choose their health insurance companies in the US. Their employers choose them. And when the user != the purchaser, you don't get a good user experience, you get corruption and a race to the bottom.
  - anothercomment 9y ago
    OK, but people choose their employers, to some extent. Would more transparency help them to demand the right health insurance from their employers?
    - aianus 9y ago
      I think in the industries and positions where employees have bargaining power you do tend to see excellent healthcare plans. But that's a minority of the workforce.
- youdontknowtho 9y ago
  The corruption that you're talking about is just some parties reinvesting their gains in protection of future gains. I'm not anti-capitalism but I think that we need some way to talk about the failures of markets where power keeps being accumulated by parties like these.

anothercomment 9y ago

But why can't they be disrupted? For example some people could be pissed off that they don't get information, and companies providing information could win them over as customers. Obviously, things are not working out in the US. I am just not yet convinced that the market/capitalism is to blame, or if it is essentially corruption (including lobbyists bribing politicians to set up a system that allows the bad insurers to stay in operation).

aianus 9y ago
Consumers don't choose their health insurance companies in the US. Their employers choose them. And when the user != the purchaser, you don't get a good user experience, you get corruption and a race to the bottom.
- anothercomment 9y ago
  OK, but people choose their employers, to some extent. Would more transparency help them to demand the right health insurance from their employers?
  - aianus 9y ago
    I think in the industries and positions where employees have bargaining power you do tend to see excellent healthcare plans. But that's a minority of the workforce.
youdontknowtho 9y ago
The corruption that you're talking about is just some parties reinvesting their gains in protection of future gains. I'm not anti-capitalism but I think that we need some way to talk about the failures of markets where power keeps being accumulated by parties like these.