Re: Insurance Horror story

[Guest guest]

Ugh! That's awful! Wal-Mart is evil.

On Mar 25, 2008, at 1:29 PM, <kathy.dickson@...> <kathy.dickson@...

> wrote:

> Here's an insurance story for ya:

>

> http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/25/walmart.insurance.battle/index.html

[Guest guest]

On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 2:50 PM, <inasnit@...> wrote:

>

>

>

>

> Ugh! That's awful! Wal-Mart is evil.

>

> On Mar 25, 2008, at 1:29 PM, <kathy.dickson@...>

> <kathy.dickson@...

> > wrote:

>

> > Here's an insurance story for ya:

> >

> > http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/25/walmart.insurance.battle/index.html

>

That is a very sad story. And it is not just Walmart either although

clearly that will tug at most people's emotion - the evil corporate

giant preying on the little man. Although Walmart did allow their

stores to be " looted " during Katrina, something rarely reported in the

press.

My question:

Exactly what did this law firm do to collect ***60%*** of the

settlement??? That is highly unusual, and seems rather outrageous, yet

the firm seems to be getting a pass. Why doesn't the law firm

restructure their legal agreement to the standard 1/3 since this

family is suffering under extraordinary circumstances and obviously

needs the money. Such an arrangement would put approximately $250,000

extra in the family's pocket.

Why did the " family " lawyer feel the need to report the settlement to

Walmart? That strikes me as strange and disturbing as well and seems

to smack of incompetence. The lawyer has no fiduciary responsibility

to Walmart. None.

Walmart has the right to collect fees, although not the obligation.

That is standard boiler plate language in many health plans and is

usually not questioned. It makes sense on some level but can create

some tenuous situations like the one in this link. I can see the

predicament they are in if they don't exercise that right, given the

extremely litigious society we live in and the fact they have very

deep pockets. Seems to me they would have been better served by

quietly making some kind of confidential agreement with the family or

acting as if they overlooked it if someone should sue them in the

future who does not have such extraordinary circumstances.

While a horror story, this is not a failure of insurance. It does

point out however the limitations of insurance. Insurance can only

manage risk, it can never remove uncertainty. Because of that economic

reality certain " risks " are simply uninsurable or only at a very high

price. Imagine what this couple's life would have been like without

the Walmart plan that paid out in the first place?

Despite the nasty stories, without insurance modern civilization as we

know it today simply would not exist. It ranks up there with double

entry bookkeeping as one of the wonders of the modern world.

--

" Don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine

messianic force, to be a sort of policeman of the whole world... "

- Luther King Jr.

" The individual who can do something that the world wants will, in the

end, make his way regardless of race. "

- Booker T. Washington (1856–1915)

[Guest guest]

> Despite the nasty stories, without insurance modern civilization as we

> know it today simply would not exist. It ranks up there with double

> entry bookkeeping as one of the wonders of the modern world.

>

>

And that is a good thing to you? Seems to me that there is some kind of

inborn flaw with insurance, at least health insurance right now. I

think it has to do with dilution of accountability and circular finger-

pointing or is it back-scratching.

Like.... Big Food promotes consumption of excess sugar and oil, Big

Pharm promotes medicines to treat the symptoms of that while enabling

the causes, and Big Insurance helps the masses pay for it all.

It is why I'm reducing my investment in health insurance to $10 per

month and my investment in a health savings account, to $20. Big woop.

If they gave the human equivalent of " collision only " insurance I would

go for that too.

It really really burns me that I am paying for public health policies I

don't agree with - like giving women statins without any evidence they

work, treating diabetics with meds and insulin while promoting high

carb diets, lifelong blood thinners without even considering exercise

and o-3s, pasteurizing everything, antibioticing everything and then

putting probiotics under FDA approval before you can get your gut flora

back, I could go on forever.

Connie

[Guest guest]

I went to several drug stores lately looking for magnesium

supplements - all of them only had magnesium oxide, which is only

useful for sunscreen from what I've read. To me that shows the

committment to health by the medical establishment - magnesium oxide

is right up there with the calcium carbonate calcium supplements -

they're jumping on the bandwagon for supplements to take people's

money but not caring if it's actually going to help.

I never go see my primary care physician if I can help it, but the

insurance did pay for 5 days in the hospital for my husband when he

nearly died from a strep infection in his skin (from scratching a

rash!)

>

> > Despite the nasty stories, without insurance modern civilization

as we

> > know it today simply would not exist. It ranks up there with

double

> > entry bookkeeping as one of the wonders of the modern world.

> >

> >

>

> And that is a good thing to you? Seems to me that there is some

kind of

> inborn flaw with insurance, at least health insurance right now. I

> think it has to do with dilution of accountability and circular

finger-

> pointing or is it back-scratching.

>

> Like.... Big Food promotes consumption of excess sugar and oil, Big

> Pharm promotes medicines to treat the symptoms of that while

enabling

> the causes, and Big Insurance helps the masses pay for it all.

>

> It is why I'm reducing my investment in health insurance to $10 per

> month and my investment in a health savings account, to $20. Big

woop.

> If they gave the human equivalent of " collision only " insurance I

would

> go for that too.

>

> It really really burns me that I am paying for public health

policies I

> don't agree with - like giving women statins without any evidence

they

> work, treating diabetics with meds and insulin while promoting high

> carb diets, lifelong blood thinners without even considering

exercise

> and o-3s, pasteurizing everything, antibioticing everything and

then

> putting probiotics under FDA approval before you can get your gut

flora

> back, I could go on forever.

>

> Connie

>

[Guest guest]

> > Despite the nasty stories, without insurance modern civilization as we

> > know it today simply would not exist. It ranks up there with double

> > entry bookkeeping as one of the wonders of the modern world.

> >

> >

>

> And that is a good thing to you?

Absolutely. Both the history of accounting and the history of

insurance are fascinating topics which open a window into why our

world is the way it is today.

> Seems to me that there is some kind of

> inborn flaw with insurance, at least health insurance right now. I

> think it has to do with dilution of accountability and circular finger-

> pointing or is it back-scratching.

I think it has more to do with the " mandates " that are put on

companies when it comes to health insurance. But the larger point I'm

referencing, rather than discussing any particular use of any

particular kind of insurance, is that modern civilization could not

exist without the use of risk management. From the car you drive, to

the computer you use, to the house you live in, to almost every large

scale economic activity under the sun, risk management, i.e. the use

of insurance has made the efficient production of that activity

possible. Risk management is largely a market phenomenon that gets

distorted in certain areas because gov'ts feel the need the regulate

the managing of a given risk.

On a personal level, one that is more transparent to most of us, the

invention of fire insurance by Ben lin, as one example, removed

the risk of having one's entire life wiped away with a single calamity

for literally pennies on the dollar. That was *huge.* Now there seems

to be some research showing the use of insurance dating as far back as

the Romans.

> Like.... Big Food promotes consumption of excess sugar and oil, Big

> Pharm promotes medicines to treat the symptoms of that while enabling

> the causes, and Big Insurance helps the masses pay for it all.

>

> It is why I'm reducing my investment in health insurance to $10 per

> month and my investment in a health savings account, to $20. Big woop.

> If they gave the human equivalent of " collision only " insurance I would

> go for that too.

Isn't that what major medical is all about?

> It really really burns me that I am paying for public health policies I

> don't agree with - like giving women statins without any evidence they

> work, treating diabetics with meds and insulin while promoting high

> carb diets, lifelong blood thinners without even considering exercise

> and o-3s, pasteurizing everything, antibioticing everything and then

> putting probiotics under FDA approval before you can get your gut flora

> back, I could go on forever.

Well I certainly agree with you. But paying for public health policies

you don't agree with isn't primarily an insurance company issue, but

rather an issue of gov't interfering in the risk management

marketplace to create what they deem is a more suitable outcome.

--

" A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents

and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents

eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with

it. " Max Planck

[Guest guest]

Update: Walmart stops seeking the return of funds from the Shank Family.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/huebert/huebert25.html

--

I will say that unless one is in some kind of daily, personal dynamic,

be it marriage or monasticism, one will never truly see themselves.

Like it or not in either of these situations there is inescapable

feedback on one's character and choices...There is a built in reality

gauge in living in an intimate vowed relationship that cannot be

simulated otherwise.

-Anonymous