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> Why should a profit-seeking insurance company insure me past some point Seems like a good argument for single payer insurance.
by NegativeLatency 8y ago
> Why should a profit-seeking insurance company insure me past some point
Seems like a good argument for single payer insurance.
- maxxxxx 8y agoI think it's an argument for very large non discriminating risk pools.
- monocasa 8y agoThe biggest being one large risk pool that all citizens are a part of.
- op00to 8y agoSeems like a good argument for single payer insurance!
- maxxxxx 8y agoNot necessarily. You can have multiple insurances compete over the whole country.
- buckminster 8y agoAnd they compete on which can most successfully discriminate without getting caught. What's the point?
- maxxxxx 8y agoNo discrimination. You take anybody or you are out of the market.
- LargeWu 8y agoWhat is the motive then for a for-profit company to even exist? If every insurance company has to take everybody, that implies they have to also provide the same coverage to everyone at the same rate. Barring cartel-like collusion, which is already illegal, the market price would quickly converge towards the cost of insurance. There would be basically no upside, but almost unlimited downside.
- maxxxxx 8y ago"What is the motive then for a for-profit company to even exist? If every insurance company has to take everybody, that implies they have to also provide the same coverage to everyone at the same rate. " Correct. And whoever is more efficient wins. That's no different from any other retail business. My grocery store sells lettuce to anybody. Some are more efficient and can offer better prices. Or they sell better lettuce. But regulation sets minimum requirements so nobody can sell fake or toxic lettuce. I thought that's how the market works.
- james1071 8y agoInsurance is a misnomer for such a scheme - premia aren't priced according to actuarial risk. The scheme only works because the low risk young have to join and subsidise the higher risk old.