Insurance

[W00TsP0P]

Do any of you get, I mean really get insurance?

Here's my beef!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
every year your insurance premium goes up faithfully when the bill comes. When you finally get into an accident or get ripped off they give you a line of poop about depreciation.

WELL HOW ABOUT DEPRECIATING MY PREMIUM??????????????

 

[Patman]

Relacement value policies are available.

Depreciation is real, don't think so check the price of your vehicle when it was new against today. Even if you bought it yesterday from the dealer the vehicle is worh less.

Ever consider self insurance? Get the barest minimum of coverage from the cheapest place you can find and then assume the liability of the rest of your coverage yourself.

 

[Okiewan]

How about this.... you pay your premium for x-years, no claims, the cost starts going down.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

My motorcycle insurance from Progressive is about half of what is was two years ago and there are now two additional bikes on the policy. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the value of my bikes declining over that time period.

 

[IndyMX]

I get a notice every year showing how much my policy has went down in cost. It's really nice to see. However, my monthly payment hasn't changed in 5 years. I don't get it.

I've been with the same company for almost 10 years, haven't had a single claim in those ten years...

 

[Solid State]

Do any of you get, I mean really get insurance?

Not really. Try adding a teenager or two to your policy!

 

[robwbright]

Here goes crazy Rob again. . . ;)

Everyone more or less knows the facts I'm about to write about, but few people actually BELIEVE it - by believe it, I mean putting your money where your mouth is and not taking out insurance.

Insurance is gambling against the house and the odds are stacked against you.

Insurance companies make money because the premiums they charge FAR exceed the amount of money they pay out. Thus, your chances of having an incident severe enough to actually justify the cost of insurance are pretty low.

BTW, insurance companies made $63.7 billion in profits in 2006.

See here:

http://www.ccfj.net/inszeroinprofits.htm

Profits for the record years of 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007 are estimated to be $253.1 billion.

Read more: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/01/insurance_profits.html#ixzz0r936UP2y

In that same article, note that for every dollar you pay in premiums, you will get back 54.6 cents from the insurance company.

Note that $253.1 billion dollars profit is $843 profit per U.S. resident (at 300 million residents). Nice work if you can get it.

Thus, my approach is this - believe upon Jesus Christ, trust in God to protect you, yours and your things, and drop any insurance coverages that are not required by law.

In my case, if you take out medical expenses related to the birth of my two children (which costs extra to get coverage for anyway), the total medical costs for my family since marriage 9 years ago is somewhere between $1000 and $1500 ($300 of which was to have my broken wrist casted).

Basic medical coverage premiums would have been $43,000 @ $400 per month - which, as I understand it, would be a "reasonable" premium for a family of 4 that would have a relative high deductable.

Thus, I've likely saved between $30,000 and $40,000 in medical premiums (didn't have the 2nd child until last year, so premiums might have been lower than $400/mo).

In the case of your employer providing your insurance, note that the money the employer spends on your insurance COULD be coming directly to you instead - that expense of the employer is money that could be going to wages and isn't.

At any rate, IF you assume that God is in control and nothing happens by chance (and I do), then anything that happens - good or bad - has a reason. No matter how much insurance you purchase, you can still be put in physical or financial straits. . . and if you don't purchase any insurance, you can go for years or decades without a serious claim - imagine all the money you've saved.

If it's your time to go, it's your time to go and no amount of insurance is going to stop that. Further, "acts of God" - as the insurance companies call them - are not covered by insurance and those can happen to you just as easily as something that might be covered.

Again - either things happen for a reason or they don't. Think about it.

 

[XRpredator]

unfortunately, Rob, where they getcha is the insurance that *IS* required. Liability/uninsured motorist is the biggest chunk of the auto/bike insurance pie. comp and collision is peanuts in comparison.

Of course, we're all good on the health care coverage now, right? :rotfl:

 

[ellandoh]

no amount of money is comparable to knowing that if my baby needs a lifeflight to the hospital the only thing i need to worry about is putting on a seatbelt if they let me ride with her. "IF you assume that God is in control and nothing happens by chance (and I do)"

A farmer is in Iowa during a flood. The river is overflowing. Water is surrounding the farmer’s home up to his front porch. As he is standing there, a boat comes up. The man in the boat says, “Jump in, and I’ll take you to safety.”

The farmer crosses his arms and says stubbornly, “Oh no thanks, I put my trust in God.” The boat goes away. The water rises to the second story. Another boat comes up. The man says to the farmer, who is now at the second floor window, “Hurry, jump in. I’ll save you.”

The farmer again says, “Oh no thanks, I put my trust in God.”

The boat goes away. Now the water is inching over the roof. As the farmer stands on the roof, a helicopter comes over, and drops a ladder. The pilot yells down to the farmer, “I’ll save you. Climb the ladder.”

The farmer yells back, “Oh no thanks, I put my trust in God.”

The helicopter goes away. The water continues to rise and sweeps the farmer off the roof into the swiftly moving water. Unfortunately, he drowns.

The farmer goes to heaven. God sees him and says, “What are you doing here?”

The farmer says, “I put my trust in you, and you let me down.”

God says, “What do you mean, let you down? I sent you two boats and a helicopter!”

and insurance companies :think:

 

[IndyMX]

Ok.. not to get into a religious debate, but my doctors didn't take anything but cash or proper insurance when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer.

During my second round of chemo, I know the chemo visits (1 every 2 weeks for 6 months) were right about $28,000 per.

I have no idea what the surgeries cost, but I can only speculate that they were very expensive.

And since March of 2005 I've had a good 25 CT scans at an average cost of about $3800 per.

Plus last years foray into the shattered knee club racked up an extra $48,000. Not including rehab and whatnot.

So, while it's easy to say trust "God" and all of that, reality tell us that as we get older and continue to participate in dangerous sports, you better have some form of medical insurance or you're going to regret it in a big way.

From the time I got out of the service until I was 30, I didn't bother with health coverage. And it was a safe gamble. I didn't participate in risky activities and I was reasonably healthy. But after 30 I was married and had kids to think of.. I sure was glad when I signed up for the maximum coverage at my new job in 2003, because not 3 months later my stepdaughter was diagnosed with a very rare pediatric cancer.

Had I not had the coverage that I had at that time, she'd have suffered. As it was she was taken from us 2 years later, (not the dates) but her last two years would have been a lot harder on her had I not had the best insurance money could buy.

So Rob, I have to respectfully disagree with your assessment that any man in the sky was looking out for anyone there..

Just my 2 cents.