The Trii-Zine Ezine

The one scam that I have not yet addressed is the insurance scam. And, it is a scam.
Once upon a time, insurance agents went door-to-door, or worked a contact list, those who would want insurance would go looking for it. No More; now insurance is advertised on television, and we are told to find/contact our local agent.
There was once four types of insurance to be had: Life, home, auto, and health. Now, however, there is an insurance policy for everything; sort of similar to the pills for everything that are televised.
I understand the need for life insurance, health insurance, home owner's insurance and auto insurance, but why on earth does one need to insure their pet? Now we can buy life and health insurance for our pets! We can also defray the cost of taking care of our cars by purchasing repair bill insurance. That is the craziest thing I have heard of yet. If you take proper car of your automobile, you shouldn't have to suffer costly repairs in the first place, and if you do, you probably bought a piece of crap to begin with. How many people do you know that have needed to replace the engine in their vehicle? Are you really saving money this way? You pay in a monthly premium, just incase something happens, and if you maintain your vehicle: change the oil, rotate the tires, tune it up, you should be good to go for a very long time. You'll probably sell the vehicle before anything catastrophic happens to it.
Would someone please explain to me why one would take out a life insurance policy on their pet? Pets die, just like people do, but life goes on more swiftly after Rover passes over than a child or a spouse. What income does your pet provide that will require replacement?
I used to wonder why parents took out policies on their kids, but that one I have come to understand. If one of my kids were to die before me, I would not be able to just go to work the next day. You can't be expected to starve to death in grief either.
Why does insurance have to be broken down for specific vehicles? Boat, RV, motorcycle, and anything else that has a motor in it for conveyance. What was wrong with an auto policy that covered everything?
The auto insurance catch that really gets to me is that vehicles are insured, not the people who hold the driver's license. It makes more sense to require that all licensed drivers have insurance that covers them in anything they drive, than to insure the specific vehicle they drive most. Farmers who have several vehicles end up paying through the nose to insure them all; because they use them all. This way, if you loan your car to someone else, and they wreck it, it is on their insurance, not yours. They way it is set up now, is similar to giving a guy a ticket for running a red light, when someone else was driving through that camera, not the owner of the vehicle.
Here are a couple of dandys that I just can't wrap my brain around:
Cancer insurance; shouldn't that be covered under your health insurance policy?
Mortgage insurance; that is something that you should get life insurance for. Your spouse dies, you pay off the mortgage with the life insurance payout.
Travel insurance; Again, if you die on a flight, your life insurance should be all you need. Your family can always sue the airline. Who can justify paying a premium for lost luggage? That is insane. Airlines that promote travel insurance say to me that they are not very confident in their ability to get you to your destination alive and well.
It's all a scam; and it was created by we the people. We have gotten too lazy to take care of what we have, expecting an insurance policy to protect us from financial ruin, and insurance brokers are cashing in.
I knew a guy once, a long time ago, who had to have every insurance policy known to man, to feel secure. That is nuts! Life is too short to spend it worrying about what might happen. He spent more than 50% of his income on premiums. Can you imagine how the quality of his life would have improved if he'd freed up all that cash? He could have bought a house rather than living in a rented trailer.
Insurance companies now have us all convinced that we need insurance as much as a cancer patient needs chemo. It is ridiculous. And we buy into it like a thirsty man to an oasis.
Health insurance should include prescriptions, vision and dental care. All are part of healthy living. I am amazed at what my mother spends each month for Medicare supplemental insurance. She lives below the poverty level as it is and spend 50% of her social security on additional insurance coverage to make sure she never sees a doctor bill. None of the supplemental insurance works without a co-pay and her prescriptions are many.
Even locally, we can purchase ambulance insurance. I live in a remote area, with the nearest hospital 100 miles away. Therefore, our Emergency Services came up with the idea of allowing people to purchase an ambulance card for x.xx/yr. and that will give them a free ride, if they should need a trip to the hospital. Here's the kicker: purchasing an ambulance card does not cover the cost of supplies used while in the ambulance and it only covers one trip to the hospital. Therefore, you must make sure it is safe to go home before you leave the hospital, because if the ambulance has to take you back, they are going to soak you for the trip. It doesn't cover Flight for Life services though; a one-way trip in the helicopter costs more than $12,000. (I got to take one of these rides with my son.)
I bought an ambulance card while I was pregnant, and haven't bought one since. The only time that I had to use a local ambulance anyway, was the result of a car accident, and my auto insurance paid for that.
And let's not foprget credit card insurance. The policy that promises to pay your credit cards should you become permanently disabled or dead. I've had experience with this type of policy, through my mother, and it is not what it is cracked up to be. Actually, it was way more hassle than it was worth. The insurance company paid late consistently, and stopped paying before her balance was paid. The credit card company (MBNA) tried to collect twice what she had borrowed. Her balance at the time of injury was $15,000, but after five years on disability, they tried to tell her that she still owed $17,000, even though the insurance had paid out $15,000 on her claim. Don't be suckered into this type of insurance. They claimed that she had acrued that much in interest over time. It wasn't her fault the insurance company was late making payments for her each month.
If you want to take the wind from the sails of the insurance industry, stop buying their products. Many insurance products are redundant, expensive and unnecessary.

Copyright © 2010
The Trii-Zine Ezine

About the Author:
Trina L.C. Sonnenberg
Publisher - The Trii-Zine Ezine - Your Trusted Source for Internet Business and Marketing Information. EST 2001. ISSN# 1555-2276


Author of: My Journey A Lifetime of Verse, ISBN: 978-0-61516405-2
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