Re: Protocols for Insurance to Maintain Privacy

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Tim May wrote:
>Turns out that Blue Cross and Blue Shield have negotiated, through
>enormous buying power, daily rates of about $700 a day. (These
>numbers come from my memory of a "60 Minutes" report a few years
>ago. Details and current figures may vary.)

Sounds like what you really want is to be able to buy through these
companies without buying the insurance.

This would be a real easy service for them to provide because if they
mark it up a little bit, it's basically free money.  (They are doing
the negotiations anyway, after all.)  They don't even need to know
your name until you show up wanting to use their health care network.

The Emergency Room Scenario is a little more challenging.  One way to
deal with it is to wear some obvious signs of wealth like a $10,000
watch.  In a pinch you can give them the watch.  ;-) (Some of the
nurses won't know what it is, but the doctors will, I am sure.)

I'm pretty sure that if you are an unconscious wealthy looking person
they don't turn you away.  You really only need to survive until your
lawyer gets to the hospital with a suitcase of cash.

How do super rich people solve this problem?  You can be pretty sure
that Bill Gates self insures and protects his privacy at the same
time.  How does he do it?  How does he solve the Emergency Room
Scenario?

Monty Cantsin
Editor in Chief
Smile Magazine
http://www.neoism.org/squares/smile_index.html
http://www.neoism.org/squares/cantsin_10.htm

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At 2:15 PM -0700 10/29/97, Neva Remailer wrote:

>The Emergency Room Scenario is a little more challenging.  One way to
>deal with it is to wear some obvious signs of wealth like a $10,000
>watch.  In a pinch you can give them the watch.  ;-) (Some of the
>nurses won't know what it is, but the doctors will, I am sure.)
>
>I'm pretty sure that if you are an unconscious wealthy looking person
>they don't turn you away.  You really only need to survive until your
>lawyer gets to the hospital with a suitcase of cash.

Read "The Millionaire Next Door" for tips on what millionaires (who are of
course the "barely non-poor" these days) are likely to be wearing and
flaunting. Turns out that most Yuppies driving BMWs and wearning Rolexes
are doing so on _credit_. Driving a Mercedes or BMW has nothing to do with
actual ability to pay bills.

>How do super rich people solve this problem?  You can be pretty sure
>that Bill Gates self insures and protects his privacy at the same
>time.  How does he do it?  How does he solve the Emergency Room
>Scenario?

I can't speak for what Gates does, but the 3rd or 4th richest man, Gordon
Moore of Intel, was signed up for the company plan. As a fail-safe,
emergency room plan, it's a winner. If grossly more expensive treatments
are needed, more than the health care plan will pay for, he can always opt
for this.

(The "savings" by self-insuring are trivial, even to average folks. Given
that a company health plan will not _stop_ patients from paying more, the
company plan is valuable insurance against being turned away as an
indigent.)

--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."