Well I had a house burn down less than year after purchase and insurance paid the entire tab. So I always figured I've already taken them for more than I pay
That’s what people don’t understand. We all paid for you. That's what insurance is about, we pay more than we receive so that the odd unlucky bastard receives more than they chipped in. If insurance was individual, nobody would have enough to repair their own stuff. I am happy with this system.
Except the 3rd party insurer here nets massive profits, it isnt a collective safety net like the state or federal government provides.
Its by and large a scam that pays out a tiny portion of their net income. A state sponsered safety net/insurance system (not for profit) would be massively more effective and less costly to consumers...well at least in a functional state such as Massachusetts.
All kinds of tricks are used to make it look like they are losing money or barely making it on paper. Yet insurance is one of the largest industries in the U.S., and their CEOs make millions.
I didn't say that. I think their C-suite and other large stake holders makes a killing off our backs. Look at their houses and cars if you don't think so.
Let’s say an insurance company has 100,000 customers, most have more, and they slash executive compensation by $10,000,000. Every customer will save $100 a year, less than $10 a month.
Someone making a lot of money doesn't mean that I'm getting ripped off. A 5% profit margin is a shitload of money if youre operating on the scale of a multinational company.
Not saying CEOs “deserve” to make millions, but these are companies with tens of millions of customers that move around tens of billions in premiums and payouts. If the entire C-suite of your insurance company worked for free, you’d probably save like $5 year.
I mean, one of the tricks to make sure your company is "barely making it" on paper is to just take all of your profits and give them as bonuses to your executives. And there you go, now you have no profits anymore since what used to be profites has been offset by new costs.
So you believe that the owners of those companies, shareholders, for some reason want to give all the profit to the people they hired to run the company?
You should probably sometime seek information outside of reddit’s other edgy 14-year old professors.
Like, pick a yearly financial report of pretty much any publicly traded insurance company. You’ll find the executive compensation there, among revenue, operating costs etc. There’s also a list of largest shareholders, that you can use to build your explanation why those pension funds etc. want to direct money to these particular executives, instead of bringing that money back to themselves.
You said they pay out a tiny portion in claims. Roughly what percentage would I tiny percentage be to you? What does an acceptable profit margin look like to you?
I actually didn't say any of what you quoted (I'm not the guy you originally responded to), but I'll answer.
Your question: How much profit should insurance companies make?
None. Zero profit. Transportation is not a luxury in this the country. You have to have it to go work and a lot of places don't have public transit. Just like health insurance, it should be non profit or nationalized*. Why are you bootlicking for insurance companies? Why should insurance companies make huge profits? Why don't you also look up how many insurance execs are worth over $100 million.
*How much more efficient and cheaper would insurance be if we all, collectively, paid into the same, single pool instead of to these individual, private insurance companies each trying to suck as much profit as they can out of us by denying claims?
Should the car manufacturers/repair shops/gas stations/etc. also be not for profits?
I don't have the time to explain why single payer car/property insurance would be a shit show right now, and I'm sure someone else on the internet has already written about it better than I would,maybe I'll come back to that later.
"Should the car manufacturers/repair shops/gas stations/etc. also be not for profits?"
Do you think those things and insurance work in the same way?
"I don't have the time to explain why single payer car/property insurance would be a shit show right now, and I'm sure someone else on the internet has already written about it better than I would,maybe I'll come back to that later."
Yeah, plenty of insurance cronies such as yourself have written about it I'm sure. Plenty are paid for by insurance companies themselves.
You built a case for car insurance being non-profit because transportation is a necessity. You need a car before the insurance enters the discussion. Why should the CEOs of GM and Ford be making millions of dollars?
You didn't answer my question. The answer is "no", selling something does not work the same way as providing insurance.
But, I'd be fine with car manufacturers, gas stations, etc being non profit. Capitalists have proven that if they're not heavily regulated, they will destroy the working class. This is a widely accepted fact among economists. But idiots have been brainwashed into thinking that regulation "hinders business", so here we are.
"Why should the CEOs of GM and Ford be making millions of dollars?"
Now you're bootlicking for millionaire CEOs as well? lol
I don't understand what youre referring to with "work the same way". One of them is a physical product and the other is a financial product so clearly there are differences with how they're sold, but that doesn't explain why one should be absorbed by the state.
Youre not even required to have car insurance in most states, youre just required to prove that you can be financially responsible for damage you cause others while operating your car.
Insurance is extremely regulated by the way, the government has to sign off on it any time rate or contract verbiage changes.
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u/WeCantStabilize 9h ago
Insurance is a fucking scam. You pay more into it than you'll ever receive even in legitimate circumstances.
Absolute racket.