Possessed!
 

Rufus wrote:


Finally, my insurance rant: Insurance is becoming a lose/lose-more
proposition for US citizens...
... I'm afraid that to me insurance
companies appear to have stopped offering value and started to collect
extortion.



Then De Clarke wrote:


I couldn't agree with you more....
the insurance biz is becoming a racket: coercive,
restrictive, and I fear it may also become mandated (legislation mandating
a captive market for them to plunder).


Most people blame high insurance rates (whether you're talking about boat ins, car ins., business ins. or any other king of insurance) on either lawyers too willing to take on frivolous cases in the insurance lottery or the juries too willing to hand out high awards (especially for pain and suffering).

It is a complex equation and these are certainly valid contributors, but consider this.

The cost of litigation, let alone the cost of losing a court case has risen so high that it is extremely dangerous not to have insurance. As a result, we have all become captive customers for the handful of insurance companies out there. A number so small that they form what is effectively, if not actually, a monopoly.

I've no evidence to back my feelings up, but I really don't believe that insurance companies look upon high awards or settlements as a bad thing. It's the best advertising they have and a wonderful justification for extraordinarily high rates.

P.S. I've never understood why my boat/car/house/business insurance rates went up because of the 911 attack. Completely ignoring for the moment that our government succeeded in getting the vast majority of potential plaintiffs to give up their right to sue in return for a cash settlement from the tax payers, my tax rates going up implies that they are pooling ALL risks. If this is so, why do I have to pay more for my teenagers' car insurance that I do for my wife and I? It may be that I'm just too stupid to understand these complex issues, but methinks I see a contradiction here.

OK, I'm off the soap box now, we can go back to talking about sailing topics.


--
Dan Best - (707) 431-1662, Healdsburg, CA 95448
B-2/75 1977-1979
Tayana 37 #192, "Tricia Jean" http://rangerbest.home.comcast.net/TriciaJean.JPG