4 ms·

I'm of the opinion it should be akin to workers compensation insurance, as in a pseudo-mandatory requirement to be a successful business (eligible for contracts

I'm of the opinion it should be akin to workers compensation insurance, as in a pseudo-mandatory requirement to be a successful business (eligible for contracts, retention of employees, etc) but without such a high level of bureaucracy/informal disincentive and with a minimal burden of proof. I would think insurers would love this; it's a virtually guaranteed income stream, and the chances of any given payout are fairly low from an actuarial standpoint, even if abortion were to become absolutely illegal. It's so clear to me that it would be profitable to provide this that I'm 100% sure I'm missing something.

LeifCarrotson 4y ago
Nobody plans to or wants to make a worker's comp claim. Lots of people specifically plan to and want to make a "maternity leave insurance claim". Lots of other people are extremely unlikely to do so. And, of course, about half of my coworkers would only be eligible for the paternity leave variant. The chances are fairly low that my 64yo small business owner will be making a claim. They're quite high for my 27yo purchasing agent who just got a house with her husband, which they'd wanted to do before starting a family. The key difference is that employers ought not discriminate between these groups. Workers comp strikes everyone equally and unpredictability, which works great with actuarial models, but you ought not just not hire married 20-40 year old women to drastically reduce your likelihood of a maternity leave expense...or worse, fire them about 6 months before they're expected to make a claim. Health insurance has the same problem, as a 33yo with an 18-minute 5k and zero preexisting conditions, I'm unlikely to need much - especially if I don't skip my "annual" physical for the 3rd year in a row, but my smoking, obese, arthritic 59-year-old machinist has a serious doctor's appointment like every two weeks. How do you run such a service both morally and profitably? At every turn there's an opportunity to sacrifice one for the other.

LeifCarrotson 4y ago

Nobody plans to or wants to make a worker's comp claim. Lots of people specifically plan to and want to make a "maternity leave insurance claim". Lots of other people are extremely unlikely to do so. And, of course, about half of my coworkers would only be eligible for the paternity leave variant. The chances are fairly low that my 64yo small business owner will be making a claim. They're quite high for my 27yo purchasing agent who just got a house with her husband, which they'd wanted to do before starting a family. The key difference is that employers ought not discriminate between these groups. Workers comp strikes everyone equally and unpredictability, which works great with actuarial models, but you ought not just not hire married 20-40 year old women to drastically reduce your likelihood of a maternity leave expense...or worse, fire them about 6 months before they're expected to make a claim. Health insurance has the same problem, as a 33yo with an 18-minute 5k and zero preexisting conditions, I'm unlikely to need much - especially if I don't skip my "annual" physical for the 3rd year in a row, but my smoking, obese, arthritic 59-year-old machinist has a serious doctor's appointment like every two weeks. How do you run such a service both morally and profitably? At every turn there's an opportunity to sacrifice one for the other.