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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NOW who wrote (18183)	3/5/2004 3:45:32 PM
From: GraceZ	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

Insurance is one of those things that can and cannot be considered an essential. What is essential is health care not health insurance. I don't have any dependents and assets which exceed my liabilities, so life insurance is optional. I held disability when I was younger and my future earning power was the main asset I needed to protect (consider that when you are younger you have a higher probability of being in a disabling accident than in dying). For anything where I can cover the cost of loss I prefer to self insure. What people forget is that insurance is designed to protect your assets in event of a serious loss and it doesn't really do that very well. For those who have few assets and no dependents it's largely a wasted expense considering someone with no health insurance is more likely to have the government pick up the full tab if they are in serious need of care than a person with insurance. It's the guy with insurance and assets who gets screwed because the hospital bills him full boat and then the insurance company gives him a list of stuff they won't cover. Before you know it he has a lien on his house. My car insurance is cheaper than it was when I first started tracking it in 1988. The cost of health insurance goes up as you age because the group you are in ages and the shared medical costs increase. Homeowners goes up with the replacement value of the home. The rate can have zero price inflation and your premium can rise due to the inflation in the underlying asset. Although, they are raising rates like crazy now. I just got a letter from my insurance company that stated that in the last three years they paid out $1.60 in claims for every dollar of premium they collected! The punch line was a 45% increase in homeowners phased in over two years with slightly increased discounts for people like me who have multiple policies. It's time to raise those deductibles again. I hate insurance.