Your Brother Committed Suicide? No Insurance For You
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Consumer Reports has an interview with the mother of a young man who couldn’t get any insurance because, after his brother committed suicide when he was younger, he saw a psychiatrist for a few…
So let’s use this as a springboard for discussion on All Things Insurance:
I sometimes wonder what’s fair in terms of insurance. With the way things are heading, everything seems to be slanted toward the insurer. They can check your health before writing a policy or quote? Shouldn’t that be part of the contract?
What they did above seems reprehensible, but then again, that seems to be the way of insurers these days. I am by no means against a business making costs plus profit. But where’s the line? If there’s a group/work plan, insurers have to cover pre-existing conditions. If you walk in off the street and purchase a policy, they won’t cover pre-existing at all. I’m pretty sure this includes pregnancy (Nope, we won’t cover it.. you were already pregnant before the start date of the policy).
Now I’ll argue the other side for a moment:
Depression can run in families. If your brother committed suicide, you’re more likely to, so why should we open ourselves up to that liability? Plus the law says we don’t have to (we lobbied heavily and wrote the basic form of the law).
Your turn…
5 Comments
shadowmyth
August 6th, 2008
at 8:39pm
Wow, that really sucks, but does not surprise me. The insurance companies are talking about basing your insurance on your genetic testing once that is full swing.
By the way, I added you to my blog roll.
E2001
August 6th, 2008
at 10:06pm
“…slanted toward the insurer…”? Have you even SEEN the Manhattan skyline?
For anyone reading this who DOESN’T understand how insurance companies (and other big financial institutions) work, let me explain…
Insurance companies (and other big financial institutions) have lawyers… Many, MANY lawyers… who read Many, MANY law books… books that you and I will likely NEVER READ… in an attempt to locate LOOPHOLES… Many MANY loopholes… which can then be exploited for the purpose of constructing gigantic iron and concrete structures to serve as a beacon to show the world just exactly WHO’S THE BOSS!
“Nationwide is on your side” is an AD slogan… NOT a company policy!
Jim in Virginia
September 2nd, 2008
at 2:17am
Health Insurers also check to see if you skydive, drive a motorcycle, smoke, drink excessively, or have a past drug abuse problem. Is this supposed to be wrong?
Auto insurers check your driving record before they issue or rate your car insurance. Colleges check your grades and test scores before admitting you to college. Employers check your citizenship before getting a job (or should). Banks check your credit history before granting a loan. Judges check your past driving record before they render verdicts in traffic cases. Local governments check your credentials before granting you a license. My church does a background check of anyone (employee or volunteer), that’s going to be working with kids or youth.
Here’s a newsflash. What happens in your past matters - to just about everyone - and it should. Grow up. Or maybe you’d like us to believe that when you have kids and need a nanny or a pre-school, you just aren’t going to check out their backgrounds because it isn’t fair. After all, that past drinking problem, or drug abuse, or violence conviction, or pedophilia arrest really doesn’t matter now - after all, it was in the past!
Sure.
Davis Roth
September 2nd, 2008
at 11:34am
Most, if not all life insurance policies exclude suicide as a covered cause of death at least for the first year (or more). That provision could be made permanent for the supposed suicide-prone, but it certainly isn’t right to deny accident or other medical causes.
The entire concept of insurance has been warped by the greedy mega-corporations which now are convinced they should be guaranteed a profit.
Insurance is supposed to be akin to a wager, with the insured betting with their regular payments that they will collect, while the insurance carriers are betting they won’t. The insurance companies should be like any other business: sometimes they will and should lose money! Instead, every time there is some calamity, policies are canceled, rates are raised, and more are excluded.
The higher rates ensure that the companies will earn back every dime that they have paid out in claims.On top of that they get massive tax benefits which are unavailable to other businesses, uncollected tax revenue that must be “made up: by higher public tax rates. As usual, it’s welfare for the rich. What a racket!
leftystrat
September 2nd, 2008
at 11:58am
Jim: The question was actually `what is fair for all concerned?’ Rather than lecturing me, why don’t you make a suggestion?
Davis: exactly. What risk are they taking?
Thanks for the comments.