As individuals we have little control over how we “insure” our future. As pension funds gain more and more control of our individual finances, it will become increasingly important to ensure that the investments they make relate to our needs and not just provide short-term financial returns on investment. Socially responsible investments help our ageing planet but […]
Category: Insurance
Health insurance is a misnomer. We can’t insure our health. It is not like motor vehicle insurance where the guarantee is that our damaged cars will be repaired. We need health pensions and trusts not health insurance. For humans, as opposed to cars, insurance provides no guarantees. We can’t buy insurance that will ensure that […]
The consequences of the challenge to the Affordable Care Act will extend beyond the US. Whilst woefully inadequate, the Act at least tried to address some of the inequities in health care in the US. On the side lines, countries such as the UK which have national health schemes, have remained silent and self-righteous, resting […]
Health care can‘t keep surviving on unlimited credit cards, even though the role of health funders, both public and private, has shifted from providers to financiers. There needs to be an alternative method for funding our health microenvironment and microservices. The only way for funders to balance their books these days is to restrict services […]
When venture capitalist Martin Shrekli recently bought a pharmaceutical company and repackaged and repriced, by 5000%, an old drug that HIV patients use to treat fungal infection, he set the world of pharmaceutical pricing on fire. That kind of maverick decision by Shkreil made me, for one, realize how much our wellbeing is at the […]
In 1978 the WHO produced the Alma Ata Declaration and by promoting health, as opposed to treating illness, radically changed the face of healthcare. Today its lofty aspiration: “the attainment of the highest possible level of health” is just another 21century commodity with goods and services traded by governments, insurers and providers. But the more […]
When we buy a car we are required (in most countries) to provide evidence of third party insurance before we can drive the car on government roads. Similarly, banks require us to take out mortgage insurance to protect their loans. Insurance is about risk coverage and, traditionally, where risk is high so are the premiums. […]
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