What is our equity in health insurance?

[TStoneMBD]

yah i forgot about how insurance companies take forever to pay out claims. i actually used to work in an accounting office in a hospital for a short period of time and a small part of my duties were handling insurance payments so i know first hand how ridiculous the whole process is. i also didnt consider the money they receive by people paying their premium in advance. i actually just paid 6 months in advance for my car insurance to save $90. my policy came to $1366 total before the $90 savings which which equates to about 6.6% interest, or 13% yearly interest. this would mean that the insurance company would have to make over 13% yearly interest on that money in order for my prepayment to generate a profit for them. i find it unlikely that they would make 13% on that money, but it might be close. also note something very important. if i chose not to pay my policy in full i would be making monthly payments instead. this would mean that the insurance company would have some of my money before the 6 months in monthly incrimenting amounts. because they would gain interest off of my monthly payments, it would mean that they would have to earn far more than 13% interest on my policy prepayment in order to make a profit. (sorry for the poor explanation but the reasoning is there). it seems that they are more interested in having people pay their policies up front simply to save the agony of sending out bills every month and allowing them to reduce staff.