Cavalcade of Risk – the pre-holiday edition

Always one to oblige fellow blogger and Cavalcade of Risk Hank Stern (he of InsureBlog fame), I eagerly agreed to host this week’s edition of the CoR.
Little did I suspect just how popular the ‘cade has grown – I’ve been inundated with entries

OK, we’re going to grab you by the throat. Julie Ferguson’s post at Workers’ Comp Insider links to several Canadian TV spots that graphically, and gruesomely, illustrate why accidents are not accidents. Don’t share with your kids, but do show the risk manager…
Health stuff
Lots of Americans are finding out, to their dismay, that when they lose their job, they also lose their employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. If they are out of work due to illness or injury, it is not likely the employer will continue to pay their share of the premiums – so not only are they now without income, they are also facing much higher costs for insurance. Jonathan Pletzke offers one solution, buying coverage on the individual market. Before you do, understand that a) it will be a LOT more expensive than employer-based insurance, and b) there will be medical underwriting (in most states) that will likely exclude pre-existing conditions. Read more at Why Getting Your Health Insurance at Work Could Be Dangerous posted at Consumer’s Health Insurance Blog.
Unlike some insurance brokers, CoR founder and mentor Hank Stern doesn’t have horns and a tail (despite his protestations to the contrary!), and proves it with his post about an-all-but-uninsurable client. Hank notes that even for the toughest risks, there may well be coverage available – unaffordable, but available.
Here’s something I didn’t know, but now I (we) do, courtesy of Jay. Insurance companies have to file policies and changes thereto with state insurance departments (as far as I know this is a requirement in all states, but I may not know very far), but when they do file a change, they have to offer any current policyholder the option of switching to any other policy that company offers with no medical underwriting (this may be unique to Colorado, Jay’s home state). So, even if MegaInsCo actually wants to improve coverage, say by increasing the lifetime maximum, this requirement may well prevent Mega from doing so. This makes no sense.
Jason Shafrin’s thoughtful post serves two purposes – 1) make one concerned about others accessing personal health information, and 2) make one concerned about others NOT accessing your personal health info. While privacy is important, so is the ER doc knowing you are allergic to latex…
Just because the information is there doesn’t mean your health care provider will actually read it. Dennis Quaid’s infant twins were damn near killed when their caregiver mistakenly gave them an adult’s dosage of blood thinner heparin, which happened to be 1000x higher than the right amount. Eric Turkewitz, an attorney who follows these things, is the source of this post.
Good friend and erudite scholar of all things health related Richard Eskow has been volleying with other bloggers (including me) as well as NYTimes op-ed writers on the issue of universal coverage. It makes me a bit nervous when I disagree with Richard – he’s a smart guy – more so when I read good stuff like this.
My contribution to the edition is a post on Medicare, and more specifically, a recent report that indicates Medicare’s costs are much higher for enrollees who were previously uninsured. I argue that insuring those folks would reduce Medicare’s costs – commenters disagree.
Household items
I sold my 1969 Plymouth GTX Hemi Convertible in January – it was the only car I ever bought that I actually made money on. If you don’t want to ‘invest’ in a muscle car, are looking for a new car, and aren’t among those who plan on keep their cars till the wheels fall off, one of the factors to consider is resale value. I was a bit surprised to learn that the least-worst vehicles in terms of depreciation did not have a BMW or MB logo, but were VeeDubs. See Don’t Let Your Car’s Value Go Down “Like a Rock.” Buy the Vehicle that Keeps its Value the Best. » American Consumer News posted at American Consumer News.
A rather insightful post comes from a blogger in Malaysia. KC Lau’s been thinking about the time = money equation, and has a few helpful ideas on how to determine when it is best to invest your time instead of your money, or vice versa.
A ‘risk’ that most folks younger than your host may know little about is inflation. I recall (dimly) the early eighties when mortgage rates were in the high teens. Things are looking a lot better these days, but inflation is an insidious asset-destroyer, and one we all need to watch out for. Read the Silicon Valley Blogger’s post for warning signs and a few possible solutions.
Subprime intelligence
Boy, unlike Merrill Lynch, Countrywide, and most of the rest of the investment community, none of us would have been dumb enough to give buckets of money to folks unlikely to be able to pay it back, no siree! (says the guy who lost about 20% of his capital in the dot-com meltdown). Well, the misery that is the fallout from the subprime credit mess has made its way across the Atlantic to far northern Norway, where a town’s investments somehow got snarled up in our mess. I’ll bet they never thought it would affect them, either…
Perhaps the best thing about hosting a carnival is the exposure to new blogs. I was very impressed by one in particular, which I hereby award the coveted “best new risk blog, with new defined as new to me”. The blog, SOXFirst (NOT BoSox or ChiSox, but Gubmint SOX), has a great post on investment bubbles and the cause thereof. Here’s a quote – “what investors fear the most is not the risk of a loss. It’s the risk that they may do poorly relative to their peers. When it comes to certain kinds of technology, keeping up with the Joneses drives investment decisions.”
Ted’s post is sorta related – he’s shedding no tears for mortgage lenders. Warning – Ted’s blog, and this post in particular, are shamelessly self-promoting. I normally wouldn’t include something like this in a ‘cade, but his views on Countrywide look to be insightful.
How did we get here? For years buying a home was considered a good investment – that is until prices started dropping. Now, thru the disaster of leverage, more than a few homeowners find themselves under water on their finances – owing more than the home is worth. A great explanation of this is here at personal financier.
In the “it doesn’t fit here but I thought it was interesting anyway” is this post on what to give instead of a “gift” this holiday season.
Other risky stuff
Companies do dumb things, amny of them appearing to be aimed to help succeed in the short term even at the expense of the long term – sort of like teenagers. Tara speaks from experience, having made a few less-than-perfect decisions about her business, and using that knowledge today to make better ones.
Zagreus Ammon reminds us that stuff ain’t what makes us happy, or healthy.
Among the other “risky” posts submitted was one by Lisa Emrich who informs us that Montel Williams (I think we’re supposed to know who he is, but darned if I do) who does something on TV and also is a spokesman for big pharma, acted like a moron when he insulted and attacked a high school reporter who was unprofessional enough to ask him about pharma profits and their impact on research. Again, I don’t know Montel, and from reading Lisa’s post, am not in a hurry to make an acquaintance.
And finally, we’re going to close out this edition with a rather dense but nonetheless highly worthwhile post on moral hazard, investing, and the Fed. At least I think that’s what it is about.