Who do you Trust? by Robert Marcom f you give me a little money on a regular schedule, I'll give you a lot of money when something bad happens to you. What a deal! I won't tell you about a few caveats: I have millions of stock holders. They want to keep all your money and pay you nothing. Ever. I won't tell you that I have a Board of Directors who all want bonuses for profitability. I certainly won't tell you I want a bonus too. I will say: you're in good hands. Solid as Gibraltar. Like a good neighbor. And, it pays! Where can trust be best laid: with a corporate, commercial multinational insurance corporation? You may recognize opposing dynamics here. Where can trust be best laid: with a corporate, commercial multinational insurance corporation? I offer the absurdity of this possibility: it is not in their interest to pay you a single dime. It is in their interest to weaken you through delaying tactics and legalistic shenanigans; and pay you little or nothing. I believe this is the primary strategy of the Insurance Industry. It does not make sense to me, to allow the vital guarantee of individual welfare (well-being and wholeness) to reside among huge insurance companies. You would expect the same result from throwing a baby seal into a shark pen. It is clear, at least to the author, that government is the only rational guarantor of assurance for individuals. Insurance companies are no longer satisfied with their actuarial cut of the revenues. They want every last drop of blood and scrap of flesh. Governments actually benefit when fewer people are sick, crippled, impoverished or deceased and removed from the tax roles. Insurance companies. . .? The governments of western democracies are responsive to the individual through the voting process. Western democracies are certainly the major consumers of insurance products. Try voting on your policy with Mutual of Ho-ha-ha. Add to this, the scams insurance companies have been caught at recently: Metropolitan Life (Get Met--It Pays) was found to have cheated nurses with a calculated ploy, State Farm is accused of keeping billions of dollars, cheated from motorists. Now, who do you trust? © 1999 Robert Marcom Robert Marcom is a published writer, and the Moderator for Net Author, an on-line writers' community. He resides in Houston, Texas. comments about this article? give us feedback