Insurance..is it worth it?

Markit

Davita you're the man! No fecking clue any more but: You're the man. Just checked to see what my BLOCK was shielding me from. Lloyd's names were fully liable to the full extent of their fortunes and were paid handsomely for the pleasure up until they weren't anymore because they had to pay out. Their world came crashing down - we poor people all laughed till we **** ourselves. What this has to do with Bali? Ahhh yeah, just met a guy named Wayan Lloyd who owns a ship/boat/catamaran.

davita

Welcome to he conversation Markit...I nearly was one of them that you would have laughed at...and, in hindsight, would have deserved it. btw the I thought I posted in 'nothing to do with Bali' ....something must have slipped. How to transfer to that subject?

Mark

Fair point about health insurance davita - if one saved the amount of the premiums over the years as a sort of self-insurance fund it may work out better - luck of the draw really. Unfortunately, not everyone is so disciplined to save and bank the money for the inevitable rainy day. Another counter argument would be regarding insurance for medical evacuation. For complicated, urgent procedures and interventions it may be life saving to be evacuated to a medical center of excellence like Singapore or KL. Paying this in cash (plus the subsequent treatment in said center of excellence) could be a potential bankruptcy causing event.

davita

Recent posts under 'which hospitals' have motivated thought of insurance and since I'm off the booze, and don't spend endless hours in pubs anymore, I have time to review interesting, exciting items.....like insurance policies...:excitement: Looking through the last health care policy I had shows that, not only would my premiums have been one third more than what I've currently paid for major surgery and treatment, some of that treatment would not have been covered by the policy anyway. One has to read the fine print!!! Insurance Companies own huge offices in most major cities and pay big dividends...they are investments for their share-holders and not for the comfort of the clients. In the 1980's, when I was investing, my financial advisor suggested I become a Lloyds 'name.' I fortunately declined. A 'name' gaurantees personal liquid assets as collateral to Lloyds and they sell that collateral to get premiums for insuring large projects. Dividends are paid for that 'guarantee.' Over many years this 'name'..(the Queen was one as were many celebrities of large net-worth) became very lucrative until the Exxon Valdez disaster, Piper Alpha and the asbestos problems devastated Lloyds and they called in the 'names' for their guaranteed money to pay the insured. Not so lucrative after all as many 'names' became bankrupt...but Lloyds still remains and reported some UKP 3.16 billion in profit in fiscal 2014. It begs the question...if they own big buildings, pay big dividends and big salaries and big pensions to executive employees, where to hell does the money come from...the answer is obvious....:grumpy:

davita

Mark wroteFor complicated, urgent procedures and interventions it may be life saving to be evacuated to a medical center of excellence like Singapore or KL. Paying this in cash (plus the subsequent treatment in said center of excellence) could be a potential bankruptcy causing event.

That went through my mind when I contemplated about what I should do...please see my blog. I'd hoped that my experience could give some confidence that surgery in Bali is not as 'life threatening' as anecdotal accounts suggests.

davita

Good points SamD as I didn't add to my OP...all that TV advertising...who pays for it...please don't answer as I guess we all know. Someone told me she worked for one of these insurance companies selling door to door on commission for every premium sold. I agree that some regulatory insurance should be mandated when it can involve a third party but even that is abused. In the USA you have to not only buy insurance for your third party liability on your car...you have to buy in case the other guy doesn't have any...:abnormal: edit: hehehe.. took me a while to comprehend your ref. to the Calcutta taxi...but I got it. I've been to Calcutta and they don't need insurance 'coz the rule is....the last person to blow the horn must have caused the accident.

SamD

In Australia recently, there appears to be an insurance feeding frenzy taking place. The TV is awash with companies offering life, health, funeral, pet, income, car and whatever insurance, sometimes two or three ads in a row. It has been going on for some time now. Companies you would not normally associate with financial services such as Coles and Woolworths (the bigggest supermarket chains) have sniffed money on the wind and have jumped on the bandwagon, if you'll forgive the mixed metaphor. The funeral insurance ads are all pushing the same guilt trip: you are a heartless bastard if you die unexpectedly and leave your family to pick up the tab. Funny, that was what I thought families were for? I personally have house and car insurance only, with the company with the least nauseating ads - Youi. The Allianz ads, for example, are so cringingly awful that I switch channels whenever they come on. This plague of insurance products must tell us something about Australian society, but I'm not sure what. Is insurance worth it? For your house and car yes, in my opinion, as I found out when a Black and White Taxi decided to do a U-turn into my brand new car a few years ago. They obviously don't teach U-turns in Calcutta. For everything else, no.