INSURANCE

Insurance is mutual risk sharing.  It is a concept whereby individuals and/or businesses band together to reduce an uncertain possible catestropic loss.
The uncertainty can be the time such as in life insurance or in an event such as in  fire insurance.

This desire to provide for future security has expanded to areas from retirement to health and has produced confusion and polarized debate.  It has also produced an issue of entitlement or inividual responsibiity.

Is financial security for retirement an insurable risk?   It is catostropic  for the individual  that could no longer work to support his or her self  and it is catostropic for  a country (government)  that was unable to care for  these individuals.

In the wake of WWI, the government decided that the  loss  of life  for elderly individuals who could no longer support themselves for BASIC needs was a catestropic loss for the whole country and passed the Social Security Act where ALL individuals were required to purchase BASIC retirement insurance that all would collect at age 65.  Because everyone shared this cost which did not include the cost of Private Enterprise profit, it was affordable for everyone.  It was found that there were a number of catestropic events such as handicaps, accidents and health impairments for those unable to handle the financial burden that these hazards demanded, were catestropic losses for the whole country  and were added  to the Social Security enactment.

The current polarized "debate"  concerns  HEALTH  and appears to go beyond the basic and catestropic concepts.  In the case of health, would the individual be responsible for their own basic health care?  Children, of course,  are the wards of the STATE and therefore would the State be resposible for their basic health care?  On the other hand,  should  an able bodied adult be responsible for their own basic health care?   Could catostropic  health  care  for  an able  adult be  a government resonsiblilty? and what is an able adult?  What is the government responsibility for disabled adults?

Private enterprise has found that  accident insurance  and other health care benefits could be  offered  at an acceptable price that  would afford a  profit.
But  great advances in health care  have expanded the costs in this area to the point where AFFORDABILITY  must be a consideration in the debate.

The immature approach of just slashing costs will only aceserbate the problem,. Waste and corruption must be curbed, but to cut survival costs
would cause hardship and impede recovery.  Education, Infrastructure. Roads and Bridges, Law Enforcement, Emergency Rescue,  Civil Service Agencies, and the like are  absolutely essenial to surival, recovery  and successful business enterprise to produce jobs that would accelrate the recovery.  To cut basic suival costs and expect business to  suceed and produce jobs to aid the recovery is a no brainer in the true sense of the word.  Insurance is a valuable management tool but it has its limitations.  It is not an entitlement.  It requires both individual and government responsibility.