Who subscribes to insurance bullshit?

Got into a conversation with my friend today and the topic of insurance came up. My friend expressed his views that insurance companies and agents are like lawyers, in that they're sharks out for your money and all that other bullshit, because a lot of insurance is so seedy and shady, especially when it comes to what your insurance explicitly covers.

For example car insurance; you've got to make sure you've got the right kind and all sorts of other special options (or just the all-inclusive full-money-coverage-sucking plan) or else you'll find that you won't be covered for everything, let's say when some damn illegal rams into you and it turns out the illegal doesn't have any insurance (which is illegal here), but your insurance won't do jack shit about it.

Do you subscribe to insurance? I only subscribe to two kinds, because it's the law now, I guess, well car insurance is mandatory, but I guess health insurance isn't, though the school I'm attending says that all the students have to have health coverage, so I'm signed up to pay for my school's health coverage plan. And then there are other kinds of insurance, fucking house insurance, and not only house, theft, fire, flood, earthquake, hurricane, whatever-the-fuck-else-insurance-wants-to-rob-you-money-from, etc.

To be honest, insurance really pisses me the fuck off. All this what-if bullshit that has never, ever happened to me before, except for like the example above when I was working for this company and got to drive the company truck to different jobs, and some fucking illegal rammed into the back of the truck when I was at a stop sign, and it turned out he didn't have insurance and there was nothing the insurance company would do for my boss or the banged up truck that had to be put out of commission.

Not only that, but the amount of money you pay to "insure" yourself? The only thing I'm ensuring, is ensuring all my fucking money goes to paying off gayass insurance bills. If you're talking about the average American or even just minimum wage workers and non-rich people, if they were to subscribe to all this insurance bullshit, they wouldn't even have enough money left at the end of the day to buy fucking food to eat. Got any food insurance?

And then insurance comes into the consumer world with insurance for your electronics and warranty plans and all sorts of other bullshit. I bet all the money I waste on insurance for all the what-ifs that might happen would more than cover the amount of money the insurance companies "helps" cover for me. How many times have I ever had to "collect" on my insurance up until now? Zero. Common sense and sensible acting goes a long way with this whole crock of insurance. Maybe I'll think about it more seriously when I own my own house or am getting old as fuck where I'll probably get sick and need to be hospitalized, but what the fuck. I hate insurance, taking all my damn money. But, what if... No, what if I stopped wasting all this money on goddamn insurance. Fuck insurance.

Phew, just had to get that off my chest. Anyone else feel the same way about insurance? What kinds of insurance do you subscribe to, and how much of your blood do they suck out every month, or with other insurance like car insurance, every quarter or year? Are there risks you are willing to take rather than spend your money on what-ifs?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Insurance is a matter of probability and statistics. Of course for most people it'll cost more in insurance during their lives than what they'll get out of it, that's how insurance companies make their money. But whether you want insurance or not boils down to this: do you want to pay a relatively small sum for something that has almost no chance of happening to you, or pay nothing unless the improbable happens, at which point you'll have to pay a much larger sum.

Don't whine about insurance being "useless" to most people, though. It's to be expected.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I get frustrated with insurance companys too...
The main one I have is car insurance and health. The health one is covered by my job. However I feel that it is important because you never know when you will need it.
Sure I have never been in a accident before, but that does not mean that somone else could smack into my car.

It's a double edged sword, we hate the companies because they take our money and we feel like we are not getting anything in return, yet when something happens, we are thankful that we have insurance.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The cliche phrase comes to mind, "Better safe than sorry." Unfortunately, the reality of life sets in...we all have to pay insurance. It's one of those expenses that you may never "benefit" from. It's similar to federal and state taxes in that most of us complain about paying them because we often don't see where the money is being put to use, and when we do see the results of our expenses, we see the funds being used on resources that still do not benefit us. For example, perhaps a road you'll never drive on us repaired by your tax dollars.

It's an unfortunate fact of life. I concur with YeOldeButchere. It's probably better to pay small sums of money (often simply by habit) that way if the time ever comes where we'll need to dip into insurance, it's available to us. However, as you've pointed out, there are situations where our insurance still does not apply. Ya just gotta know what you're paying for.

How ya doing, buddy?

Here in Massachusetts, the state requires you to have auto insurance when you drive. If they catch you without it, you're fucked. And I know in some states I've visited, you have to have three things for an officer when getting pulled over: license, registration, proof of insurance.

I don't mind paying for insurance. It's not TOO expensive for me anymore, though admittedly, it used to be VERY expensive.

Insurance companies are kinda shit with their customers, but you need to be an asshole sometimes and be FIRM with what you expect from them. If you're having trouble with customer service or getting what you rightfully deserve, maybe you should consider switching providers.

I go with a local establishment where everyone in the insurance office knows me. They're always VERY courteous and prompt. I'm thrilled with their efforts. Gratefully, I've only been in one bang-up with my car wherein I wasn't liable.

The bigger companies can offer better rates, but they're usually shittier at giving you what you need/want.

How ya doing, buddy?

Quote:

guess health insurance isn't, though the school I'm attending says that all the students have to have health coverage, so I'm signed up to pay for my school's health coverage plan.

Because the costs of healthcare without insurance aren't plastered all over billboards, its hard to gauge just how much money you save by having health insurance.

I did a three day stint in the hospital after a short night in the ER. Bill: $6500. That doesn't include the ER trip. That doesn't include the doctor's visitation. That doesn't include the images taken at the radiology dept. That doesn't include the prescriptions that they filled for me there. My semi-monthly Remicade infusions cost $750 before insurance. Doctor's visitations would be in the hundreds of dollars for me rather than $10.

If you don't have health insurance in this country, getting sick becomes a bank-breaking deal. Its shitty, but that's the way it is.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

The only thing that reason pisses me off about insurance is the extra things you have to pay for. Its like, collision and fire are one thing (with some companies), but then you have to buy theft, vandalism, etc., then everything racks up. And, you can only insure so many vehicles for a certain rate, and others are more. Then they base it on experience and age, and history....

Grrr... it can be painful...

FELIPE NO

I have glaucoma and, as such, am on 4 different kinds of eye drops to control it. With insurance, these drops cost about $100 total when I refill all of them. Without, they'd be over $450.

Yeah. I like health insurance.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?