Newton Versus Planck

Not all that long ago insurance was as steady and predictable as Newton’s laws of motion, especially the third law, i.e. for every action there was an equal and opposite reaction.

You bought an insurance policy that covered certain areas [house, auto, life, health, etc.] and you paid your premiums to be covered for losses. If a loss occurred, you filed a claim and the insurance company paid it. Things were simple and straight forward.

Then things changed. More and more insurance companies in all fields shifted from being mutual insurance companies to being for-profit, and the Newton model broke down, and people who bought insurance policies were no longer certain claims would be paid, even though they had been paying premiums. Insurance entered the world of Max Planck and Quantum physics.

You now see examples of “string theory”, if the company strings you along, eventually you’ll quit trying to get paid. Chaos and uncertainty rule the current insurance market, and especially with health insurance, you are getting Schrödinger’s policies that at the same time make you insured and uninsured, with procedures that are approved and unapproved.

Via DC Blogger at Corrente, a Sacramento Bee article, State attorney general targets health insurers, provides the odds that your health insurance will pay claims in California.

It is important to look at California, because it is one of the few states where there actually is some competition.

People buy insurance to reduce their personal risk, and now they are discovering they may have been paying for nothing. This is the insurance that the Obama administration apparently thinks everyone should buy.