Saturday, January 19, 2008

National Health Assurance

Even as a child I was taught the difference between INsurance & ASSurance

Assurance is for something which will happen. One day. A lump sum when you die, for example.

Insurance is something you buy just in case. In case you die before you are 60, for example, leaving a wife & children to be supported

The underlying calculations are different

With assurance you gets what you pays for. Insurance is more like a lottery. Though it is a moot point whether the winner is the one who scoops the pool - and is dead - or the others who, in the event, paid money for something which they did not need

With the increasing emphasis on monitoring & screening us for the slightest sign of potential disease & the provision of prophylactic treatment, should we be thinking in terms of how to finance schemes of health assurance rather than insurance?

Or even re-assurance

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