A View from the Press Box

Those having trouble paying for adequate health care could become a “medical tourist” and seek more affordable services outside of the country, suggested one respondent to my blog on Monday, focusing on our system’s shortcomings raised in Michael Moore’s “Sicko” documentary. Is this really what we’ve come to in the United States? Having to offshore our own medical care???

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On Monday, I closed my review of “Sicko”–Michael Moore’s documentary bashing the U.S. health care system–by asking for suggestions on changes you could live with. Let me start the ball rolling by offering one at the top of my personal wish list. Check it out, let me know what you think, and feel free to weigh in with some of your own ideas.

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Michael Moore’s latest mockumentary, “Sicko,” is about as subtle as a sledgehammer in bashing our cockamamie healthcare system, and his lens is way too rose-colored in extolling the virtues of a government-run, single-payer alternative. However, his essential point is valid–that dealing with doctors, hospitals and insurers is too often no better than a shell game, and it’s a disgrace we cannot summon the political will to fill the life-threatening gaps facing insured and uninsured Americans alike.

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Indemnity–that is, placing the claimant into the same financial position held prior to a loss–is the best that the insurance business can offer. Theoretically, claimants should not be allowed to profit from a loss. But some jurisdictions actively encourage profiting from insurance by legislating Valued Policy Laws, or court decisions allowing duplicate payments for losses. Ethically, should insurers offer insurance in jurisdictions where the concept of indemnity is ignored? Should insurance professionals seek legislation that returns insurance to providing only indemnity? Post your responses here, and please note what role you play in the industry.

One of the occupational hazards of being a journalist who happens to cover the insurance industry is you start becoming a risk manager yourself. You spot hazards no one else pays attention to. You see exposures lurking everywhere. And you instinctively take steps to limit any risks you identify, as well as make sure you have the proper loss control and coverage programs in place should the worst-case scenario occur. Today, I share with you a recent column by Senior Editor Caroline McDonald, who notes how the lessons she’s learned writing about risk management helped save her property on a dark and stormy night.

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